Association between ABO blood group and COVID-19-positive patients in institutional-based hospital, Coimbatore – A cross-sectional study

Abstract

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has spread globally and caused 6.5 million death as of October 2022. Risk factors for COVID-19 morbidity and mortality include age, sex, smoking, hypertension, cardiovascular disorders, respiratory disease, and diabetes mellitus. Association between ABO blood groups and number of other infections or disease severity following infections such as SARS-COV-1 and hepatitis B virus has been reported. Rh(D) phenotype (positive and negative Rh blood types) is associated with very few diseases compared to ABO blood group. Various articles have reported the association of ABO blood group and COVID-19. Our aim was to investigate if any association exists in between ABO blood group with Rh phenotype and COVID-19 infection in Coimbatore and with the result an awareness among the public should be created to hasten the preventive measure from further encounter of the infection and help the government in taking a proactive approach to fight COVID-19 in the area. Thus, we conducted a study to find out the association between ABO blood group and COVID-19-positive (SARS-COV-2) patients in institutional-based hospital – Coimbatore which was one of the most affected districts in Tamil Nadu. This is a single-center, retrospective, observational, and cross-sectional study conducted in a private institutional-based hospital in Coimbatore. The data were collected from around 437 patients’ medical records, who were tested COVID-19-positive between October 2020 and November 2021 whose blood grouping was available as part of investigation. Data were analyzed statistically to correlate the association of ABO blood group, Rh phenotype, and COVID-19 infection. In 437 COVID-19-infected patients, the ABO blood group displayed a percentage distribution for A, B, AB, and O at 19% (83), 35% (153), 8.5% (37), and 37.5% (164), respectively and 409 (93.6%) were Rh +ve. Among the patients, blood group O 164 (37.5%), followed by blood group B153 (35%) is observed to be significantly associated with COVID-19 susceptibility, whereas blood group A83 (19%) and AB 37(8.5%) showed lower susceptibility for COVID-19 infection. This study did not show any statistically significant association of ABO blood group and Rh phenotype seen in relation to COVID-19 infection.