Blood type may affect brain function as we age, according to a new large, long-term study. People with the rare AB blood type, present in less than 10 percent of the population, have a higher than usual risk of cognitive problems as they age.
University of Vermont
hematologist Mary Cushman and her colleagues used data from a national
study called REGARDS, which has been following 30,239 African-American
and Caucasian individuals older than 45 since 2007. The aim of the study
is to understand the heavy stroke toll seen in the southeastern U.S.,
particularly among African-Americans. Cushman's team focused on
information collected twice yearly via phone surveys that evaluate
cognitive skills such as learning, short-term memory and executive
function. The researchers zeroed in on 495 individuals who showed
significant declines on at least two of the three phone survey tests.When they compared that cognitively declining group with 587 participants whose mental muster remained robust, researchers found that impairment in thinking was roughly 82 percent more likely in individuals with AB blood type than in those with A, B or O blood types, even after taking their race, sex and geography into account. The finding was published online last September in Neurology.
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