Hakan GÖKER, Eli̇fcan Aladağ KARAKULAK, Haluk DEMİROĞLU, Çağlayan Merve Ayaz CEYLAN, Yahya BÜYÜKAŞIK, Ahmet Çağkan İNKAYA, Salıh AKSU, Ni̇lgün SAYINALP, İ̇brahi̇m Celaletti̇n HAZNEDAROĞLU, Ömrüm UZUN, Murat AKOVA, Osman İ̇lhami̇ ÖZCEBE, Serhat ÜNAL

The effects of blood group types on the risk of COVID-19 infection and its clinical outcome

Background/aim: COVID-19 Coronavirus disease of 2019 is an infectious disease outbreak later on declared as a pandemic, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 . It spreads very rapidly and can result in severe acute respiratory failure. The clinical studies have shown that advanced age and chronic diseases increase the risk of infection. However, influence of the blood groups on COVID-19 infection and its outcome remains to be confirmed. The aim of this study is to investigate whether there exists a relationship between the blood groups of the patients and risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and the clinical outcomes in COVID-19 patients. Material and method: 186 patients with PCR confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 were included in this study. Age, sex, blood groups, comorbidities, need for intubation and intensive care unit follow up and mortalities of the patients were analyzed retrospectively. 1881 healthy individuals, who presented to the Hacettepe University Blood Bank served as the controls. Results: The most frequently detected blood group was blood group A 57% amongst the COVID-19 patients. This was followed by blood group O 24.8% . The blood group types did not affect the clinical outcomes. The blood group A was statistically significantly more frequent among those infected with COVID-19 compared to controls 57% vs. 38%, P

Keywords:

Blood groups, COVID-19, SARS-COV-2, susceptibility, clinical outcome,

___

1. Zhou P, Yang XL, Wang XG, Hu B, Zhang L et al. A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin. Nature 2020; 579 (7798): 270-273. doi: 10.1038/s41586- 020-2012-7
2. Zhou F, Yu T, Du R, Fan G, Liu Y et al. Clinical course and risk factors for mortality of adult inpatients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: a retrospective cohort study. Lancet 2020; 395 (10229): 1054-1062. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30566-3
3. Lindesmith L, Moe C, Marionneau S, Ruvoen N, Jiang X et al. Human susceptibility and resistance to Norwalk virus infection. Nature Medicine 2003; 9 (5): 548-553. doi: 10.1038/ nm860
4. Jing W, Zhao S, Liu J, Liu M. ABO blood groups and hepatitis B virus infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Open 2020; 10 (1): e034114. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-034114
5. Cheng Y, Cheng G, Chui CH, Lau FY, Chan PK et al. ABO blood group and susceptibility to severe acute respiratory syndrome. The Journal of the American Medical Association 2005; 293 (12): 1450-1451. doi: 10.1001/jama.293.12.1450-c
6. Cooling L. Blood groups in infection and host susceptibility. Clinical Microbiology Reviews 2015; 28 (3): 801-870. doi: 10.1128/CMR.00109-14
7. Zhao J YY, Huang H, Li D, Gu D, Lu X et al. Relationship between the ABO blood group and the COVID-19 susceptibility. MedRxiv 2020. doi: 10.1101/2020.04.08.20058073
8. Li J, Wang X, Chen J, Cai Y, Deng A, Yang M. Association between ABO blood groups and risk of SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia. British Journal of Haematology 2020. doi: 10.1111/ bjh.16797
9. Zietz M, Tatonetti NP. Testing the association between blood type and COVID-19 infection, intubation, and death. MedRxiv 2020. doi: 10.1101/2020.04.08.20058073
10. Guillon P, Clement M, Sebille V, Rivain JG, Chou CF et al. Inhibition of the interaction between the SARS-CoV spike protein and its cellular receptor by anti-histo-blood group antibodies. Glycobiology 2008; 18 (12): 1085-1093. doi: 10.1093/glycob/cwn093
11. Wu O, Bayoumi N, Vickers MA, Clark P. ABO(H) blood groups and vascular disease: a systematic review and metaanalysis. Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis 2008; 6 (1): 62-69. doi: 10.1111/j.1538-7836.2007.02818.x
12. Jenkins PV, O’Donnell JS. ABO blood group determines plasma von Willebrand factor levels: a biologic function after all? Transfusion 2006; 46 (10): 1836-1844. doi: 10.1111/j.1537- 2995.2006.00975.x
13. Tang N, Li D, Wang X, Sun Z. Abnormal coagulation parameters are associated with poor prognosis in patients with novel coronavirus pneumonia. Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis 2020; 18 (4): 844-847. doi: 10.1111/jth.14768
14. O’donnell J, Sharif K, Emery P, Bridgewood C, Mcgonagle D. Immune mechanisms of pulmonary intravascular coagulopathy in COVID-19 pneumonia. Lancet Rheumatology 2020 May 07 [online ahead of print]. doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.19782.83521
15. O’Sullivan JM, Ward S, Fogarty H, O’Donnell JS. More on “association between ABO blood groups and risk of SARSCoV-2 pneumonia”. British Journal of Haematology 2020 May 18 [online ahead of print]. doi: 10.1111/bjh.16845