Can your blood type increase your chances of having a stroke?

Amy Norton HealthDay Reporter

Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022 (HealthDay News) — A large study suggests that your risk of having a stroke at an early age may partly depend on a person’s blood type.

when it comes to the risk of ischemic stroke — the type caused by blood clots — Research suggests that blood type plays a role. increase.

now, new research It suggests that blood type is more strongly associated with the risk of ischemic stroke at younger ages (<60 years) than at later ages.In particular, blood type A stood out as a risk factor.

Researchers emphasized that: blood type On average, people with type A blood were found to have a 16% higher risk. Stroke before age 60 and compared to people with other blood types. On the other hand, type O blood was associated with a 12% reduction in risk.

Braxton Mitchell, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, said: “People with type A blood need not worry.

He said many things affect the risk of stroke, including factors that can change, unlike blood type.

People can avoid smoking, exercise regularly, eat a healthy diet, and control high blood pressure, diabetes, and other health conditions that increase the risk of stroke.

Why do different blood types have different risks of stroke? Ischemic stroke, the cause of most strokes, occurs when a blood clot blocks blood flow to the brain. Non-O blood types are also known to have higher levels of certain proteins. von Willebrand factor (VWF) and Factor VIIIcontributes to thrombus formation.

According to Mitchell, the new findings suggest that blood clotting tendencies may play a bigger role in stroke in younger people than in later people.

Several other findings from the study support that idea: Blood type A also Venous thromboembolism — Where blood clots form in veins. Again, blood type made a greater difference in those under 60 years of age than in the elderly.

Type O is the most common blood type. According to the American Red Cross, about 45% of white Americans have her type O blood, while blacks and Hispanic Americans have a higher percentage at 51% and 57% respectively. Type A is the second most common blood type.

New findings — published online in the journal on August 31 neurology — Taken from 48 studies around the world. They included approximately 17,000 people who had an ischemic stroke before age 60, a group who had a stroke at an older age, and a comparison group of healthy individuals.

By looking at the participants’ genetic profiles, the researchers looked for genetic variants associated with early stroke risk. The only strong hit they found was they Genes that determine blood type.

People with blood type O have a lower risk of stroke, and the association is stronger with early onset than later in life, with a 12% lower risk of early stroke, but a stroke risk of only 4 for people over 60. % was lower.

Similarly, people with blood type A had a 16% increased risk of stroke before age 60, but only a 5% increase in risk after that age.

Dr. Bharti Manwani is a vascular neurologist at McGovern Medical School in UTHealth Houston and a volunteer with the American Heart Association (AHA).

She called the study “very interesting” and agreed that it suggested that blood clotting tendencies may play a more important role in early-life stroke.

However, Manwani emphasized that the finding does not mean that type A blood will “doom you.”

Regardless of blood type, people should focus on stroke risk factors they can control, she said.

However, she and Mitchell said people with type A blood may be more susceptible to other factors that promote blood clots, such as birth control pills and smoking.

Mitchell and his colleagues provided evidence that Preliminary study Presented last March at the American Stroke Association conference: Women who used oral contraceptives and smoked had a higher risk of having a stroke before age 50 compared with women who never smoked or used the pill. And those with non-O blood types had an even greater risk.

Stroke is not common among young people, but it does occur. Of the approximately 800,000 Americans who suffer a stroke each year, 10% to 15% are adults under the age of 45, according to the AHA.

And over the past several decades, stroke rates among Americans under the age of 50 have risen, the group said. This is probably because conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes have become more common among younger people.

Source: Braxton Mitchell, PhD, MPH, Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore. Bharti Manwani, MD, PhD, Vascular Neurologist, Assistant Professor, UTHealth at his McGovern Medical School in Houston. neurology, August 31, 2022, online

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