Study: Blood type can determine severity with which Covid-19 strikes

A person’s blood type may play a role in the extent to which Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, damages the person’s health. This is the conclusion of a study by scientists at the university in Kiel, Germany, which was published in the authoritative New England Journal of Medicine.

The study would indicate that people with blood type A are nearly 50 percent more likely to be more severely affected by Covid-19 than people with another blood type. The reverse applies to those who have the blood type O. In these people, the risk of a serious impact would be reduced by half.

The research group, led by molecular biologist Andre Frank, examined blood samples from 1,610 patients admitted with Covid-19 to the intensive care unit in Italian and Spanish hospitals. They were all given oxygen. In addition, the researchers took blood samples from 2,205 people who were randomly picked in those countries to compare.

And there is more, according to another international study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, our genes also help determine how sick we get from the coronavirus. Researchers from the University of Groningen and the University Medical Center Groningen participated in this study.

Certain spots in the DNA can make people more susceptible to the virus. And that discovery may help find a cure.

For the Groningen research Lifelines, all the DNA was available from tens of thousands of people in the north of the Netherlands. They complete a questionnaire about their health every two weeks. The researchers can compare the answers with the genetic material to search for patterns.