COVID-19 and Blood Type in Atlanta

Abstract

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to determine if there are any associations with severity of illness from Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and ABO blood group among a cohort of critically ill patients admitted to the intensive care unit across the Emory Healthcare System. Since COVID-19 was first identified, many research groups across the country have worked to identify potential risk factors for the development of severe disease. Specifically, there have been some reports of a possible association between blood type A and a higher risk of infection and mortality, while other groups have determined that no such association exists. We sought to determine if ABO blood group was associated with higher rates of intubation, mortality, or inflammatory markers at our institution. Methods: We analyzed data from the electronic medical record (EMR) of all patients who were admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 at any of the Emory Hospitals between March 6, 2020 and May 5, 2020. The data were collected by the Emory COVID-19 Quality and Clinical Research Collaborative, and we included and analyzed data from patients who had data available for blood group and spent any time in the intensive care unit during their hospitalization. We used the Chi-square test to determine if death or intubation were associated with blood group and ANOVA when comparing inflammatory markers between the blood groups. Results: A total of 192 patients in the cohort had data available for blood type and among them 47 patients had blood group A (24.5%) vs 42% nationally, 48 had blood group B (25.0%) vs 10%, 9 had blood group AB (4.7%) vs 4%, and 88 had blood group O (45.8%) vs 44%. Death and intubation were not associated with any blood group type (p=0.424 and p=0.144, respectively). Values for inflammatory markers (CRP, IL-6, D-dimer, WBC, and ferritin) were not significantly different between the different blood groups (p=0.654, p=0.357, p=0.060, p=0.083, and p=0.706, respectively). Conclusions: When compared to data from the American Red Cross, blood group B was more prevalent in our cohort compared to the general population of the US. There was no association between blood group type and death or mechanical ventilation. We noted a trend towards higher D-dimer levels and WBC counts in patients with blood group B, but overall, there were no significant differences between inflammatory markers and blood group types among critically ill patients with COVID-19.