A cohort study on the biochemical and haematological parameters of Italian blood donors as possible risk factors of COVID-19 infection and severe disease in the pre- and post-Omicron period

Abstract

To investigate the association between biochemical and blood parameters collected before the pandemic in a large cohort of Italian blood donors with the risk of infection and severe disease. We also focused on the differences between the pre- and post-Omicron spread in Italy (i.e., pre- and post-January 01, 2022) on the observed associations. We conducted an observational cohort study on 13750 blood donors was conducted using data archived up to 5 years before the pandemic. A t-test or chi-squared test was used to compare differences between groups. Hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals for SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe disease were estimated using Cox proportional hazards models. Subgroup analyses stratified by sex, age and epidemic phase of first infection (pre- and post-Omicron spread) were examined. We confirmed a protective effect of groups B and O, while groups A and AB had a higher likelihood of infection and severe disease. However, these associations were only significant in the pre-Omicron period. We found an opposite behavior after Omicron spread, with the O phenotype having a higher probability of infection. When stratified by variant, A antigen appeared to protect against Omicron infection, whereas it was associated with an increased risk of infection by earlier variants. We were able to stratify for the SARS CoV-2 dominant variant, which revealed a causal association between blood group and probability of infection, as evidenced by the strong effect modification observed between the pre- and post-Omicron spread. The mechanism by which group A acts on the probability of infection should consider this strong effect modification.