Blood group can predict the increased risk of an early stroke – under 60 years of age. This is shown by a study from the USA. There was no clear correlation in late stroke.
Blood group can predict the risk of an early stroke – under 60 years of age. That shows a meta-analysis by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The results were published in the journal Neurology.
“The number of people with early stroke is increasing. These people are more likely to die from the life-threatening event, and survivors may face decades of disability. Despite this, there is little research into the causes of early stroke,” says co-principal investigator and neurologist Prof .Steven J.Kittner.
Blood type predicts increased risk of early stroke
Kittner and his colleagues reviewed 48 studies on genetics and ischemic stroke involving 17,000 stroke patients and nearly 600,000 healthy controls who had never had a stroke. The studies came from North America, Europe, Japan, Pakistan and Australia. The team examined the chromosomes to identify genetic variants linked to stroke.
They found an association between early stroke and the region of the chromosome that contains the gene that blood type (A, AB, B or 0). People with blood type A had a 16 percent higher risk of early stroke than people with other blood types. People with blood group O had a 12 percent lower risk of early stroke than people with other blood groups. The blood group thus predicts the risk of early stroke.
Blood group carriers need not worry
“The association of blood type with later-onset stroke was much weaker than what we found with early stroke,” adds co-principal investigator Prof Braxton D. Mitchell. However, the researchers emphasized that the increased risk is very small and that people with blood type A should not worry about an early onset stroke or participate in additional screening or medical tests.
“We still don’t know why blood type A carries with it a higher risk, but it likely has something to do with blood clotting factors, such as platelets and cells that line the blood vessels, as well as other circulating proteins, all of which play a role in the formation of blood clots,” said Dr. Kittner. Previous studies suggest that people with blood type A have a slightly higher risk of developing blood clots in their legs than tiefe Venenthrombose are known.