Jakarta, CNN Indonesia –
People with blood type O is considered more resistant (stronger) to Covid-19 and are less likely to become seriously ill. This was revealed through two studies published last Wednesday. It’s just that more research is needed to prove that blood type O is more immune to corona.
This study provides further evidence that blood type may play a role in a person’s susceptibility to infection and their chances of developing severe disease. It’s just that the reasons for this are unclear and further research is needed to say what the implications, if any, are for patients.
A study in Denmark found that among 7,422 people who tested positive for Covid-19, only 38.4 percent had type O blood – although, among a group of 2.2 million people who did not.
In contrast, 44.4 percent of group A tested positive, while in the broader Danish population, blood type made up 42.4 percent.
In another study, researchers in Canada found that among 95 critically ill patients with Covid-19, a higher proportion with blood type A or AB – 84 percent – required mechanical ventilation compared with patients with blood type O or B , 61 percent.
The Canadian study also found those with blood type A or AB had a longer stay in the intensive care unit, averaging 13.5 days, compared to those with blood type O or B, which had an average of nine days.
“As a doctor, it’s on my mind when I look at patients and stratify them. But in terms of definite markers we need repeated discoveries in many jurisdictions that show the same thing,” said Mypinder Sekhon, an intensive care doctor at General Hospital. Vancouver and a Canadian study author, quoted from CNN.
“I don’t think this substitutes for other risk factors for severity such as age and comorbidities and so on,” added Sekhon, who is also an assistant clinical professor in the Division of Critical Care Medicine and the Department of Medicine at the University of England, Colombia.
“If one is blood type A, you don’t need to panic. And if you’re blood type O, that doesn’t mean you’re free to go to pubs and bars.”
People also shouldn’t worry too much about the link between blood type and Covid-19, said Torben Barington, senior author of the Danish paper and clinical professor at the University Hospital of Odense and the University of Southern Denmark.
“We don’t know if this is some kind of protection from group O, or if it is some kind of vulnerability to other blood types,” he said.
“I think this has scientific importance, and when we figure out what the mechanism is, maybe we can use it proactively in some way with respect to medicine.”
In the Danish study, researchers analyzed data from Danish individuals who were tested between February 27 and July 30, and the distribution of blood groups among those people was compared with data from people who had not been tested. They found that blood type was not a risk factor for hospitalization or death from Covid-19.
Both studies are published in journals Blood Advances. Although there are several theories, researchers do not yet know what mechanism could explain the relationship between different blood types and Covid-19.
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Photo: Stockphoto / JarekJoepera blood type illustration- – |
Sekhon said it could be explained by people with blood type O having fewer major clotting factors which make them less prone to coagulation problems in the blood. Blood clots have been a major driver of the severity of Covid-19.
Another possible explanation involves blood group antigens and how they affect the production of infection-fighting antibodies. Or it could be linked to genes related to blood type and its effect on receptors in the immune system.
“The findings from these two new studies provide more convergent evidence that blood type may play a role in a person’s susceptibility to Covid-19 infection and their chances of having a severe Covid-19 attack,” said Amesh Adalja, senior researcher at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security in Baltimore. , who was not involved in the study.
A separate study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine in June, found genetic data on some Covid-19 patients and healthy people showing that those with blood type A had a higher risk of infection, and those with blood type O to be at a lower risk.
Previous genetic studies, paired with two new ones in Blood Advances, “suggest that this is a real phenomenon we are seeing,” said Adalja, whose research has focused on emerging infectious diseases.
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