Australians are overwhelmingly positive – at least when it comes to their blood type.
This is according to a landmark study by Australian Red Cross Lifeblood senior researcher Dr Rena Hirani, published in the Medical Journal of Australia on Monday.
She looked at more than 1.3 million Australian blood samples from 2019, and found that 85.9 per cent were positive blood types.
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The most common types were O + (38.4 percent) and A + (32 percent), while AB- was the least common with 0.5 percent.
Dr. Hirani also looked at data from 490,491 first blood donors. About 83.8 percent had positive blood types, an increase of 81 percent in 1993-94 as the last study was done.
Dr Hirani said the high level of migration from Southeast Asia, China and India in the last 10 years was reflected in the data.
“Blood types are determined by your genetic background, as well as your skin and hair color,” said Dr. Hirani AAP.
“We have seen higher proportions of these blood types in those countries that come to Australia.
“They are more likely to have RhD + (Rhesus D blood type) so it’s wonderful to see these communities working in our blood.”
Dr Hirani said the new Australian analysis was the most comprehensive of its kind, as the 1994 study only looked at blood donation data.
She said the new information would ensure that Lifeblood’s donor list could support a growing population.
“We are very fortunate in Australia that we are generally meeting all of our blood requirements,” said Dr Hirani. “But we want to continue to do that in the future.
“We need this information to ensure we can diversify the donor panel.”
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