Blood Type A Linked to Lower Mortality in Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis

TUESDAY, July 28, 2026 (HealthDay News) — For patients undergoing hemodialysis, ABO blood type is associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, according to a study published in the July issue of Kidney International Reports.

Masafumi Kurajoh, M.D., Ph.D., from Osaka Metropolitan University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan, and colleagues examined the associations between ABO blood types and all-cause, cardiovascular, and noncardiovascular mortality among 1,671 patients undergoing hemodialysis from 17 dialysis facilities in Japan, followed for up to five years.

ABO blood distribution was 38.9, 21.4, 10.5, and 29.1 percent for types A, B, AB, and O, respectively. The researchers found there were 464 deaths during five years of follow-up, including 278 cardiovascular and 186 noncardiovascular. Compared with blood type O, blood type A, but not types B or AB, was associated with a significantly lower risk for all-cause mortality (hazard ratio, 0.780) in multivariable Cox regression models. Blood type A, but not types B or AB, was associated with a lower risk for cardiovascular mortality in Fine-Gray subdistribution models. Similar results were seen in exploratory analyses for cardiovascular mortality comparing blood type A with non-A blood types; findings were consistent across subgroups and sensitivity analyses. No significant association was seen between ABO blood type and noncardiovascular mortality.

“At present, our findings do not support changing treatment or prevention strategies based on blood type,” Kurajoh said in a statement. “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.”

One author disclosed ties to Astellas Pharma, Chugai Pharmaceuticals, and Daiichi-Sankyo, which partially funded the study.

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