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Lower risk for type 2 diabetes among people with type O blood
People with the blood types A, B and AB have a higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes than those with blood type O, according to recent study findings published in Diabetologia.
“The present study shows for the first time in a large prospective cohort that specific ABO blood groups are associated with an increased type 2 diabetes risk,” Guy Fagherazzi, PhD, of the Center for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health at Gustave Roussy Institute in France, said in a press release.
Fagherazzi and colleagues evaluated 82,104 women to determine the effect of ABO blood type, Rhesus factor (positive or negative) and combinations of the two on risk for type 2 diabetes. Overall, 3,553 participants had a type 2 diabetes diagnosis during follow-up.
There was an increased risk for type 2 diabetes for people with type A (HR=1.1; 95% CI, 1.02-1.18) and type B (HR=1.21; 95% CI, 1.07-1.36) compared with type O. No statistical significance was found for type AB (HR=1.17; 95% CI, 0.99-1.39). Rhesus group and risk for type 2 diabetes showed no association.
Compared with type O negative, type A positive (HR=1.17; 95% CI, 1.02-1.35), type A negative (HR=1.22; 95% CI, 1.03-1.45) and type AB positive (HR=1.26; 95% CI, 1.02-1.57) were all associated with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes. Participants with type B positive had the highest risk for type 2 diabetes (HR=1.35; 95% CI, 1.13-1.6).
“Our study population included only women, but to our knowledge, no biological mechanisms are likely to explain a sex-dependent association,” study researcher Francoise Clavel-Chapelon, PhD, said in the release. “Information on the participants was self-reported, but this is unlikely to substantially affect the results. This is the first study to investigate a relationship between blood type and type 2 diabetes risk using such a large cohort size and a prospective design.”
Disclosure: See the full study for a complete list of the researchers’ relevant financial disclosures.