Intermountain study: Blood type is not risk factor for Covid-19

SALT LAKE CITY — A new large local study concludes blood type is not a risk factor in Covid-19 cases or severity, according to Intermountain Healthcare researchers.

The published study in the journal JAMA involved more than 100,000 patients, concluding other studies showed inconsistent results.

“Whatever those associations were, they probably did not indicate a causal link between blood type and the risk of Covid,” said Dr. Jeffrey L. Anderson, Intermountain researcher and cardiologist, during a news briefing Thursday morning.

This comes as some people may have been overly concerned with contracting COVID-19 because of their blood type, according to Anderson. Some studies concluded that those with Type O blood were less likely to contract the coronavirus, whereas those with Type A or AB were at higher risk to experience severe illness. 

However, Anderson said the majority of those studies occurred in other countries with too small a sample pool to be conclusive. 

“We want to both discard things that aren’t useful, and also find things that will help us get through this,” he said. “And identify people who are at risk, and reassure others who may be less prone to complications from this disease.”

Those at highest risk are those who are older, male, overweight or have pre-existing conditions.

The return to normal? Anderson said it relies on vaccination. 

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