A study involving haematic data of over 80,000 women in France showed that blood groups affect people’s risk of developing type-2 diabetes. The work was centered on the difference of risk associated with other groups compared to that for the O – (rhesus factor negative) blood type, which is known as the universal donor group because it does not carry A, B and rhesus antigens and can be safely transfused to people with other blood groups without the danger of rejection. B+ group stood out as the group carrying the highest risk with a 35% difference.
In the study conducted by researchers from the Center for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health, INSERM and published in the journal Diabetologia of The European Association for the Study of Diabetes, data was collected from 82,104 women between 1990 and 2008 and checked for association with diabetes.
Taken independently of rhesus factors, findings showed that compared to group O, women with group A showed 10% group B 21% and group AB 17% higher risk of becoming diabetic.
When taken together with rhesus factors, women with blood group B+ ranked on top with 35% higher risk compared to O- group, followed by AB+ (26%), A- (22% ) and A+ (17%) groups. Results for O-, B- and AB- groups were found to be statistically insignificant
Although the study covered only women, researchers pointed out that there were no mechanism for a risk difference based on gender.
REFERENCES
- 1. “People with blood groups A, B and AB at higher risk of type 2 diabetes than group O”, Diabetologia, 18 Aralık 2014