People with blood type O nearly 26% less likely to test positive for Covid-19, study involving 750,000 finds
Preliminary research has stated people with O blood type may have a reduced chance of catching the novel coronavirus. Early data from an ongoing study conducted by biotechnology company 23andMe has suggested those with the O blood type have between 9 to 18 percent fewer chances of contracting the deadly virus than others.
The study, conducted of over 750,000 people, found out that among the individuals who had possibly been exposed to the virus, like healthcare and essential workers, those with the blood group O had 13 to 26 percent less likely of testing positive. It was also discovered that blood type O people were less likely to be hospitalized because of the virus. The research, however, did not find a significant difference in how susceptible people from other blood groups were to Covid-19.
It is not yet clear whether the preliminary findings of the research has been peer-reviewed or published in a scientific journal, according to Newsweek.
The study, which began in April, asked its participants to answer survey questions about whether they had cold or flu-like symptoms, and whether they had been diagnosed with, received treatment for, or had been hospitalized with Covid-19. The respondents were also asked to share their genetic information using 23andMe kits.
The research team reportedly compared the data from their participants who had reported having Covid-19 to those who did not catch the infection. The researchers then found the ABO gene, which encodes for different blood types, was associated with a lower risk of being infected by the virus.
The study concluded that a total of 1.3 percent of O blood type participants tested positive for Covid-19, versus 1.4 percent for A, and 1.5 percent for both B and AB. When the team focused on the participants least susceptible to the novel coronavirus, they found that those with O blood type were the least likely to report testing positive at 3.2 percent. The figures were followed by blood group A at 3.9 percent, group B at 4 percent, and AB at 4.1 percent.
The biotechnology firm, in a press released, acknowledged that their study was in its "very early" stages. The lead research, Adam Auton, while talking to Bloomberg, said: "There have also been some reports of links between Covid-19, blood clotting, and cardiovascular disease. These reports provided some hints about which genes might be relevant. It's early days; even with these sample sizes, it might not be enough to find genetic associations."
"We're not the only group looking at this, and ultimately the scientific community may need to pool their resources to really address questions surrounding the links between genetics and Covid-19," Auton added.
Scientists in China, in March, had reached a similar conclusion that those with blood type O "had a significantly lower risk" of getting Covid-19. The findings were released on the pre-print site medRxiv.
An associate professor in cardiovascular and venom pharmacology at the UK's University of Reading, Sakthivel Vaiyapuri, told Newsweek that the new finding was limited because the researchers did not consider multiple other factors into their study that can make someone more susceptible to the novel coronavirus.