A new, preliminary study has found
correlations between blood type and the likelihood of being hospitalized with
COVID-19. According to the authors, people with type A blood might be more at
risk than those with other blood types.
Researchers from the Southern
University of Science and Technology, in Shenzhen, China — in collaboration
with colleagues from other Chinese institutions — have recently conducted a
study assessing the potential relationship between blood type and
hospitalization due to SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Their study is preliminary and has
yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, which means that other experts
have not yet had a chance to assess the researchers’ methodology and findings.
However, they have made their study
paper available online in
preprint form.
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Is blood group A hit the hardest?
The researchers looked at blood
group distribution among 2,173 individuals admitted to hospitals with COVID-19,
the disease caused by the new coronavirus. The people each received care at one
of three hospitals in Wuhan, China, or Shenzhen.
The team then compared the patients’
blood group distribution to that of a group representative of the general
population — totaling 3,694 people — in Wuhan.
The
researchers found that the proportion of people with blood type A was significantly
higher among the group hospitalized with COVID-19 than among the general
population.
They also found that the proportion
of people with blood type O was significantly lower among the group with
COVID-19 than among the general population.
Based on these findings, co-first
study author Jiao Zhao and colleagues report that “People with blood group A
have a significantly higher risk for acquiring COVID-19, compared with non-A
blood groups, whereas blood group O has a significantly lower risk for the
infection, compared with non-O blood groups.”
It is important to stress, however,
that the researchers refer to the risk of needing hospitalization because of
COVID-19, rather than the risk of contracting the virus that can lead to the
disease.
This is because the team only looked at data from individuals whose symptoms were severe enough to require hospitalization, not those with mild symptoms that responded to home care.
This is because the team only looked at data from individuals whose symptoms were severe enough to require hospitalization, not those with mild symptoms that responded to home care.
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