Why Men With This Blood Type Are More Likely to Have a Heart Attack

I guess my being type O is good.

‘O’ blood type might be protective against dementia.

http://www.menshealth.com/health/blood-type-and-heart-attack?

If you don’t know your blood type, you might want to pick up the phone and ask your mom. That’s because it may tell you more about your health than you think—in fact, back in March, we reported that blood types can predict which men get better erections.
Now, it may point to something more deadly, too: Your blood type may help determine if you’re at risk of a heart attack, new research presented at Heart Failure 2017—4th World Congress on Acute Heart Failure suggests.

Researchers analyzed data on more than 1,300,000 people from nine previous studies, and concluded that those with type A, type B, or type AB blood were 9 percent more likely to have a cardiovascular event—like a heart attack—than those with type O blood.
The exact mechanism behind the increased heart risk isn’t exactly clear. But one possibility may be because people with non type-O blood have greater concentrations of a blood clotting protein called von Willebrand factor, which can make the development of a blockage that causes a heart attack more likely, the researchers say in a press release. (That also may be why guys with non type-O blood are more likely to develop erectile dysfunction, too.)
People with non-O blood also tend to have higher cholesterol and higher levels of inflammation.
More research is needed to clarify the links between blood type and heart risks—and to look at each blood type separately—but the researchers believe that blood type may eventually play a role in risk assessment for heart disease, along with traditional factors like cholesterol, age, and blood pressure.

Researchers analyzed data on more than 1,300,000 people from nine previous studies, and concluded that those with type A, type B, or type AB blood were 9 percent more likely to have a cardiovascular event—like a heart attack—than those with type O blood.
The exact mechanism behind the increased heart risk isn’t exactly clear. But one possibility may be because people with non type-O blood have greater concentrations of a blood clotting protein called von Willebrand factor, which can make the development of a blockage that causes a heart attack more likely, the researchers say in a press release. (That also may be why guys with non type-O blood are more likely to develop erectile dysfunction, too.)
People with non-O blood also tend to have higher cholesterol and higher levels of inflammation.
More research is needed to clarify the links between blood type and heart risks—and to look at each blood type separately—but the researchers believe that blood type may eventually play a role in risk assessment for heart disease, along with traditional factors like cholesterol, age, and blood pressure.