By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
(HealthDay)
MONDAY, April 5, 2021 (HealthDay Information) — A or B, AB or O, it does not matter — your blood kind has nothing to do together with your threat of contracting extreme COVID-19, a brand new examine concludes.
Early within the pandemic, some studies steered folks with A-type blood have been extra prone to COVID, whereas these with O-type blood have been much less so.
However a evaluate of practically 108,000 sufferers in a three-state well being community has discovered no hyperlink in any respect between blood kind and COVID threat.
“Because the starting of this pandemic, there have been associations postulated between blood kind and illness susceptibility,” mentioned Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar with the Johns Hopkins Heart for Well being Safety.
“From this huge examine, it seems that there isn’t a affiliation between blood kind and susceptibility or severity, and different explanations have been probably current,” added Adalja, who had no position within the examine.
An early report from China steered that blood kind would possibly affect COVID threat. Subsequent research from Italy and Spain backed that up, researchers mentioned in background notes.
Nevertheless, different research out of Denmark and the US provided blended and conflicting outcomes.
To clear issues up, researchers led by Dr. Jeffrey Anderson, from Intermountain Medical Heart Coronary heart Institute in Murray, Utah, analyzed knowledge from tens of 1000’s of sufferers with Intermountain Healthcare, a nonprofit well being system of 24 hospitals and 215 clinics in Utah, Idaho and Nevada.
Of these within the evaluation, practically 11,500 examined optimistic for coronavirus, whereas the remaining examined unfavourable.
Blood kind didn’t play a big position in anybody’s threat of contracting COVID, the researchers reported April 5 in JAMA Community Open.
“I’ve at all times mentioned this entire factor with the blood sorts is far hoopla about nothing,” mentioned Dr. Aaron Glatt, chairman of the division of drugs and hospital epidemiologist at Mount Sinai South Nassau in Oceanside, N.Y. “It was by no means a big sufficient factor that folks needs to be terrified if they’ve one form of blood kind or reassured if they’ve one other blood kind. It by no means made any sensible distinction.”
Glatt was not concerned within the new analysis.
He mentioned the findings from earlier research display why correlation isn’t the identical as causation — in different phrases, why exhibiting that two issues are statistically linked isn’t the identical as proving that one triggered the opposite.
“For those who go and have a look at sufficient issues, you will see some random incidental findings which will or could not have any significance,” Glatt mentioned. “Some folks checked out so many alternative variables and considered one of them was blood kind. They noticed that some folks did worse with a sure blood kind, however the research have been conflicting, which is smart if it is random.”
Glatt concluded: “This places this entire factor to relaxation, nevertheless it by no means ought to have been up.”
SOURCES: Amesh Adalja, MD, senior scholar, Johns Hopkins Heart for Well being Safety, Baltimore; Aaron Glatt, MD, chairman, division of drugs, and hospital epidemiologist, Mount Sinai South Nassau, Oceanside, N.Y.; JAMA Community Open, April 5, 2021
Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.