Second study suggests blood types play role in severity of COVID19 cases

A new study of COVID-19 patients suggests that blood types might be a factor in who gets a severe case of the virus. 

The study in the New England Journal of Medicine compares genes of thousands of patients in Europe and found those who had Type A blood were more likely to have severe disease while those with Type O were less likely, according to the Associated Press. 

The study does not prove a blood type connection but confirms a previous report from China.

“Most of us discounted it because it was a very crude study,” said Dr. Parameswar Hari, a blood specialist at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Other scientists were more cautious about the findings.

Dr. Eric Topol, head of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in San Diego, said evidence of a role for blood type is “tentative” and "not enough of a signal to be sure."

The study included scientists from Italy, Spain, Denmark and Germany and compared about 2,000 patients with severe COVID-19 to several thousand other people who were healthy or who had only mild or no symptoms, according to the wire service.