Blood Type Group O Associated With Higher Rates of Post-Tonsillectomy Bleeding

In the July 2010 volume of International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, researchers in Ireland published an interesting finding that 63% of bleeding after tonsillectomy were in patients with Blood Type O. The general population Blood Type O is only 55%.

Although the authors were careful to state that this finding does not demonstrate causality, this association does suggest that patients with Type-O blood are more likely to suffer from secondary bleeds following tonsillectomy.

The other blood types are A, B, and AB.

Read the research here.

Read more about tonsillectomy here.

NYT: Redheads Have Lower Pain Thresholds

The New York Times on Aug 6, 2009 published a story "The Pain of Being a Redhead" that describes research why redheads experience more pain than other individuals.

Apparently, red hair color is caused by variants of the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene. People with naturally red hair are resistant to subcutaneous local anesthetics and, therefore, may experience increased anxiety and pain regarding dental care as well as other surgical procedures. Having this gene variant significantly affected a patient's level of anxiety and pain experience when compared to others, even when controlled for general trait anxiety and sex.

It may behoove surgeons to be aware and appropriately adjust medications to take the findings of this research into consideration when dealing with their redhead patients.

Though research has not born out that redheads "bleed" more, it does bring up the thought that if a redhead has more pain and increased anxiety from a surgical procedure, it may raise their blood pressure which IS associated with greater bleeding risk.

Read more about this story here. Read the research backing this story up here.