People with a certain group A blood type are more likely to have a stroke before the age of 60, according to research, which reveals a startling correlation between blood type and stroke risk.
Published in 2022, this discovery expands on our knowledge of how our individual biological composition can affect our health.
Most likely, you are familiar with the A, B, AB, and O groups, which stand for the different chemical markers, or antigens, that are present on the surface of our red blood cells.
Mutations in the genes involved create modest variations even within these major blood types.
Data from 48 genetic studies, comprising roughly 600,000 non-stroke controls and 17,000 stroke patients, were examined by researchers. Every participant ranged in age from 18 to 59.
Their research showed a direct link between early-onset stroke and the gene causing the A1 blood subtype.
Two regions were found to be highly correlated with an early risk of stroke through a genome-wide search. One of them aligned with the location of blood type genes.
In contrast to a population of persons with various blood types, those whose genomes coded for a variation of the A group had a 16 percent increased risk of having a stroke before the age of 60, according to a second investigation of particular blood-type gene types.
The risk was 12 percent reduced for those who carried the group O1 gene.
However, the researchers pointed out that there is no need for further screening or monitoring in this group because the higher risk of stroke in those with type A blood is minimal.
Comparing those who experienced a stroke before the age of 60 to those who experienced one after that age yielded another important study finding.
An estimated 9,300 adults over 60 who had a stroke and 25,000 controls over 60 who did not experienced a stroke were employed by the researchers for this study.
They discovered that in the late-onset stroke group, the elevated risk of stroke in the type A blood group vanished, indicating that the mechanism underlying early-life strokes may differ from that of later-life strokes.
According to the scientists, clot formation variables are more likely to be the cause of strokes in younger individuals than atherosclerosis, a buildup of fatty deposits in the arteries.
Regardless of age, the study also discovered that those with type B blood had an approximately 11% higher risk of having a stroke than non-stroke controls.
The ‘ABO locus’, the region of the genome that codes for blood type, has been linked in the past to heart attacks and coronary artery calcification, which limits blood flow.
Additionally, a slightly increased risk of venous blood clots has been linked to the genetic sequence for blood types A and B.
