Type A blood is at risk of stroke at an early age

Studies show that some blood types have a higher risk of stroke at a young age or before 60 years. Research shows that young people are more likely to have a stroke before the age of 60 if they have type A blood.

Referring from detikHealtha stroke occurs when a blood vessel is blocked or breaks. This condition can be caused by health factors and poor lifestyle. Basically, this condition is often experienced by elderly people or people over 60 years old. However, young people between the ages of 20 and 45 can also have a stroke.

Research shows that young people are more likely to have a stroke before the age of 60 if they have type A blood.

Cited from Science Alert, a 2022 study revealed a link between blood type A genes and the risk of early stroke. This research was done by a team of scientists from the University of Maryland School of Medicine to look at the relationship between genetic factors such as blood type and stroke.

Researchers took data from 48 genetic studies of ischemic stroke. 17,000 adults aged 18-59 who had a stroke and almost 600,000 people who did not suffer a stroke were studied.

A genome-wide study revealed two areas of the chromosome that were strongly associated with stroke risk. That same area coincides with where the blood type gene is located.

The results of the study show that people with blood type A are 16 percent more likely to have a stroke before the age of 60 than other blood types. Fortunately, they only have about a five percent risk of another stroke or more.

This research also found that people with type B blood are about 11 percent more likely to have a stroke regardless of their age. On the other hand, people with type O blood have a 12 percent lower risk of having an early stroke. At the same time, the risk of further stroke is only four percent.

“We still don’t know why blood type A has a higher risk,” said Steven Kittner, a vascular neurologist at the University of Maryland, who was involved in the study. However, it is suspected that early strokes in young people are not likely to be caused by the accumulation of fat in the arteries, but may be triggered by factors related to the formation of blood clots.

“Like platelets and cells lining blood vessels as well as other circulating proteins, all of which play a role in the formation of blood clots,” he continued.

Although researchers found that blood type A was associated with an early stroke risk, they stressed that the increased risk was very small.

In addition, the people in the study lived in North America, Europe, Japan, Pakistan and Australia, with people of non-European descent making up only 35 percent of the participants. Future research with a more diverse sample could help clarify the significance of the study’s findings.

“We clearly need more follow-up studies to clarify the mechanisms of increased stroke risk,” Kittner said.

This article was published on detikHealth.

(juice)