HealthDay Reports: Blood Type, Genetics Could Impact Odds for Severe COVID-19 — Study
People with a certain blood type may have a higher risk of catching coronavirus and developing the more severe type of infection compared to others.
Blood Type, Genetics Could Impact Odds for Severe COVID-19: Study
THURSDAY, June 18, 2020 (HealthDay News) -- A person's genes and blood type may help determine their odds for a nastier form of COVID-19, should they get infected with the new coronavirus, a new genetics study finds.
Published online June 17 in the New England Journal of Medicine, the research helps confirm earlier, more anecdotal evidence that blood type was tied to better or worse illness.
Now a team of European researchers have found that people with blood type A had a 45% higher risk of catching coronavirus and developing "COVID-19 with respiratory failure," compared to people with other blood types. On the other hand, people with type O blood had a 35% lower risk for this more serious form of COVID-19.