Relationship between COVID-19 infection and ABO and Rh blood group systems

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine whether there is a relationship between COVID-19 infection and ABO and Rh blood groups. Materials and Methods: 1360 patients with positive SARS-CoV-2 RNA test between April 2020 and March 2022 and 80219 healthy controls whose blood groups were determined before March 2020 were included in this study. Patients were classified according to disease severity as mild, moderate, severe and critical. Results: Patient and control groups were matched in terms of age and gender using case-control matched method. 1360 patients and 1161 controls were included in the analysis. Of the patients, 42.1% (n=572) had mild, 41.5% (n=564) moderate, 13.8% (n=187) severe and 2.7% (n=37) critical course of infection. It was observed that patients with blood group A were 1.33 times more at risk (OR: 1.33, 95%Cl: 1.12-1.56) for the development of COVID-19 infection compared to patients with other blood groups. No relationship was found between ABO and Rh blood groups and severe-critical COVID-19 disease, need for intensive care and mortality. However, when patients are divided into two groups as mild and non-mild (moderate, severe, critical); the frequency of having O and B blood groups was found to be significantly higher in non-mild cases than in mild cases ( (53.3% and 46.7%), (64.5% and 35.5%, respectively). Conclusion: In our study, while A blood group was found to be at risk for the development of COVID-19 infection, no relationship was found between Rh blood groups and susceptibility to the disease. In addition, the rate of O and B blood groups was found to be higher in patients who did not have mild disease.