ABO blood type may be associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in patients undergoing haemodialysis, with lower risks observed in those with blood type A, a prospective cohort study of haemodialysis patients from 17 dialysis facilities in Japan has shown.
The study, findings of which were published in Kidney International Reports, was led by Masafumi Kurajoh at Osaka Metropolitan University’s Graduate School of Medicine (Osaka, Japan), examined whether the association between blood type and cardiovascular risk seen in the general population also exists in patients undergoing haemodialysis.
The study included 1,671 patients receiving haemodialysis at 17 medical facilities in Osaka Prefecture. Participants’ health was tracked for approximately five years, and the associations between ABO blood type and all-cause, cardiovascular, and non-cardiovascular mortality were analysed.
By follow-up, 464 patients had died, including 278 from cardiovascular disease. The researchers found that patients with blood type A were associated with lower risks of both all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. In contrast, blood type was not associated with non-cardiovascular mortality, including deaths due to infections or malignancies.
“A particularly notable finding is that, while blood type O has been associated with lower cardiovascular risk in the general population, blood type A was associated with lower risk in dialysis patients,” said Kurajoh. “These results suggest that cardiovascular disease may develop through different mechanisms in haemodialysis patients.”
The findings do not support changing treatment or prevention strategies based on blood type at present, Kurajoh cautioned. “However, understanding why blood type A was associated with lower cardiovascular mortality may provide new insights into the mechanisms of cardiovascular disease in dialysis patients and help guide future preventive and therapeutic approaches.”
