Women With This Blood Type May Have Trouble Getting Pregnant

By Deborah Huso Oct 25th 2010 1:48PM

Categories: Women's Health

When researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine studied a group of 560 women who were being treated for problems with infertility, they discovered that women with blood type O may have a much lower chance of getting pregnant, the Telegraph reported.

Their findings were to be released today at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine conference in Denver.

The study, led by Dr Edward Nejat in the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, found that women with blood type O were twice as likely to have follicle-stimulating hormone levels above the normal threshold. FSH is the hormone that tells the ovaries to produce more eggs. As women age and egg production falls off, FSH levels increase.

Researchers also found that women with type A blood appeared to have more and better quality eggs than all other blood types.

But Dr. Elan Simckes, of Fertility Partnership in St. Louis, said women with type O blood shouldn't be overly concerned, while women with type A blood shouldn't celebrate just yet. He noted that while the researchers studied FSH, they did not look at other fertility tests such as Antral follicle counts and the anti-Mullerian hormone fertility test.

"It's a very interesting finding, but I don't think anybody should hit the panic button if they're type O," he told AOL Health, stressing that even modern fertility testing has its limits.

According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, about 10 percent of women in the U.S. are considered infertile. Infertility is diagnosed when a woman tries to get pregnant for one year without conceiving. Because women over 35 are less likely to conceive easily, they are considered infertile after only six months of attempting without success to become pregnant.

While FSH normally increases when women enter their 30s and 40s, the current study discovered that FSH increased more in women with type O blood, indicating that those women had fewer available or high-quality eggs. But Simckes said that the FSH test should not be used alone.

The average age of women in the study was around 35. All were attending clinics for fertility treatment. According to the Mayo Clinic, women's egg quality starts to decline after the age of 32, and women over the age of 35 are at risk of miscarrying or of having babies with chromosomal abnormalities.

The current study may add another factor to a list of potential contributors to infertility, including disease, hormonal imbalance, lifestyle choices such as smoking or drug use, weight loss or gain, intense athletic training, and stress.

Simckes did caution about waiting too long to have a baby.

"Any woman at age 30 needs to pause and think," he added. "By the age of 30, she will only have 10 percent of her egg supply."

PS- I never thought blood group also plays a role in fertility issues… and my blood group is A positive. According to this research… i should have more quality eggs… but seems it doesnt.