Blood group distribution and life-expectancy

Blood group distribution and life-expectancy

In conclusion, our retrospective survey showed that the percentage of people with group B blood declined with age. Group AB also had a negative correlation with age, although this was less pronounced: indeed, its effects were conditioned by gender, being significant only in females. The proportion of subjects with group A blood increased with age, but again this effect was significant only in females. Thus a conditioning effect of gender was evident for both A and AB groups. We have no explanations for these observations, although an association between B blood type and some aging-associated degenerative disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, has been found¹⁸.

We are aware of the possibility of multiple potential confounding effects, which might be active in this study, but not explicitly included in the evaluation. This is an observational study of the population assisted by a Department of Haematology and Transfusion Medicine. Young adults are more often blood donors or pregnant women undergoing Rhesus incompatibility assessment; old subjects are more often patients. Thus, disease status might be associated with blood groups in a different manner in different age groups. Moreover, information on the ethnic background is missing; this variable could be related both to age and blood groups. Nevertheless, we believe that the present investigation could be viewed as an initial attempt to shed light on a topic deserving attention. Further studies on large populations of patients, with particular effort to eliminate potential confounding effects, are necessary to verify our preliminary findings.

Blood Types and Life Expectancy