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

Authors

HAKAN GÖKER
ELİFCAN ALADAĞ KARAKULAK
HALUK DEMİROĞLU
ÇAĞLAYAN MERVE AYAZ CEYLAN
YAHYA BÜYÜKAŞIK
AHMET ÇAĞKAN İNKAYA
SALIH AKSU
NİLGÜN SAYINALP
İBRAHİM CELALETTİN HAZNEDAROĞLU
ÖMRÜM UZUN
MURAT AKOVA
OSMAN İLHAMİ ÖZCEBE
SERHAT ÜNAL

DOI

10.3906/sag-2005-395

Abstract

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 < 0.001; OR: 2.1). On the other hand, the frequency of blood group O was significantly lower in the COVID-19 patients, compared to the control group (24.8% vs. 37.2%, P: 0.001; OR: 1.8). Conclusions: The results of the present study suggest that while the blood group A might have a role in increased susceptibility to the COVID-19 infection, the blood group O might be somewhat protective. However, once infected, blood group type does not seem to influence clinical outcome.

Keywords

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

First Page

679

Last Page

683

Recommended Citation

GÖKER, HAKAN; KARAKULAK, ELİFCAN ALADAĞ; DEMİROĞLU, HALUK; CEYLAN, ÇAĞLAYAN MERVE AYAZ; BÜYÜKAŞIK, YAHYA; İNKAYA, AHMET ÇAĞKAN; AKSU, SALIH; SAYINALP, NİLGÜN; HAZNEDAROĞLU, İBRAHİM CELALETTİN; UZUN, ÖMRÜM; AKOVA, MURAT; ÖZCEBE, OSMAN İLHAMİ; and ÜNAL, SERHAT (2020) "The effects of blood group types on the risk of COVID-19 infection and its clinical outcome," Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences: Vol. 50: No. 4, Article 3. https://doi.org/10.3906/sag-2005-395
Available at: https://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/medical/vol50/iss4/3