People with the blood groups A, B or AB are nine per cent more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke, according to new research from the University Medical Centre Groningen in the Netherlands that looked at data from 1.3 million people.
The A, B and AB blood groups make up 51 per cent of the Australian population.
People with A, B and AB blood have higher levels of a blood-clotting protein and this is linked to higher levels of stroke and heart attack.
It had previously been suggested that there was a link between non-O blood types and risk of heart disease, with a 2015 study – finding people with blood type A had higher cholesterol than other blood groups.
“It could be that people with an A blood group should have a lower treatment threshold for dyslipidaemia or hypertension, for example. We need further studies to validate if the excess cardiovascular risk in non-O blood group carriers may be amenable to treatment,” said University Medical Centre Groningen lead researcher Tessa Kole.
Do you know your blood group? Will you raise these findings when discussing cardiovascular or stroke prevention the next time you visit your doctor?
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