Approved research

Phenome-wide study of blood groups in the UK Biobank

Lay summary

Little is known regarding how your specific blood group may relate to disease risk. Are there people with certain blood groups more vulnerable to developing heart disease, cancer, diabetes, infections, allergies or other diseases? Does your blood group even affect your cognition, mate choice or your response to medicines? In this project with a duration of 36 months, we intend to answer these questions by performing a so-called phenome-wide scan, in which we perform statistical tests of association of each blood group versus all phenotypes and diseases available in the UK Biobank. This may lead to the discovery of unknown associations and so might lead to informed changes in policies regarding blood group patient stratification versus possible different disease risks.