By Medical Editor Dr. Brian McDonough

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Most people don’t often think about their blood type unless they are going to give blood or get blood. But it may become more important than ever.

According to a new study, the type of blood you have may actually help predict whether you are at risk for heart disease.  Researchers looked at 90,000 people and followed them for more than 20 years. What they found is that people with Type-O blood had the lowest incidence of coronary artery disease.

Those who had Type AB blood were 23-percent more likely to have heart disease.  As for Type B blood, those people were 11-percent more likely and Type A was 5-percent more likely.

This is an important study because researchers are now saying that blood type may be one of the  factors we look at when predicting who’s at risk for heart disease.