Certain blood types may increase a person’s risk of different health problems, a new study suggests.
The research confirms some previous findings and reveals new links between blood types and diseases, according to the authors of the study published April 27 in the journal eLife.
“There is still very little information available about whether people with RhD-positive or RhD-negative blood groups may be at risk of certain diseases, or how many more diseases may be affected by blood type or group,” said first author Torsten Dahlén, a doctoral student at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
To help fill that gap, the researchers investigated the link between blood types, RhD status and more than 1,000 diseases. (A person who is RhD positive has a protein called the D antigen on their red blood cells; RhD negative means the protein is absent.)
