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ABO blood group system is associated with COVID-19 mortality: An epidemiological investigation in the Indian
Sunali Padhi1, Subham Suvankar1, Debabrata Dash1
1Department of Bioscience and Bioinformatics, Khallikote University, Transit Campus: GMax Building, Konisi, Berhampur, 761008 Odisha, India.
Insights
Blood group O may offer protection against COVID-19 mortality, while blood group B might increase susceptibility. This study investigated blood group associations with COVID-19 infection and death rates in India.
Area of Science:
- Epidemiology
- Immunology
- Genetics
Background:
- The global spread of COVID-19 has resulted in millions of deaths.
- Previous research suggests blood groups influence susceptibility to infectious diseases.
- Limited data exists on the association between blood groups and COVID-19 outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of ABO blood groups in COVID-19 susceptibility and mortality within the Indian population.
- To determine if specific blood groups are associated with increased risk or protection against severe COVID-19 outcomes.
Main Methods:
- Epidemiological data on COVID-19 infection and mortality was collected from Indian government sources.
- Blood group prevalence data was gathered from PubMed and Google Scholar for various Indian states.
- Spearman's rank correlation was used to analyze the relationship between blood group frequencies and COVID-19 mortality rates.
Main Results:
- A significant inverse correlation was found between the frequency of blood group O and COVID-19 mortality (Spearman r=-0.36, P=0.03).
- Blood group B prevalence showed a positive correlation with COVID-19 deaths per million (Spearman r=0.67, P<0.0001).
- These findings suggest a potential protective effect of blood group O and a detrimental role for blood group B in COVID-19 mortality.
Conclusions:
- The ABO blood group system appears to be linked to COVID-19 prognosis.
- Blood group O may confer protection against COVID-19 mortality, whereas blood group B might be associated with increased susceptibility.
- Further research across diverse populations is needed to confirm these associations.
Background:
Novel coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) has spread worldwide, and to date presence of the virus has been recorded in 215 countries contributing 0.43 million of death. The role of blood groups in susceptibility/resistance to various infectious diseases has been reported. However, the association of blood groups with susceptibility to COVID-19 infections or related death are limited. In the present report, we performed an epidemiological investigation in the Indian population to decipher the importance of blood groups concerning susceptibility or mortality in COVID-19 infection.
Materials And Methods:
Data on COVID-19 infection and mortality was obtained from the website of the Government of India. Prevalence of ABO blood groups in different states and union territories of India were searched using different databases such as PubMed and Google Scholar. Relevant articles were downloaded, and data were extracted. Spearman's rank coefficient analysis was employed to study the correlation between blood group frequencies and COVID-19 infection or mortality rate.
Results:
A significant inverse correlation was observed between the frequency of O blood group and the COVID-19 mortality rate (Spearman r=-0.36, P=0.03), indicating a possible protective role of O blood group against COVID-19 related death. In contrast, the prevalence of blood group B was positively correlated with COVID-19 death/million (Spearman r=0.67, P<0.0001), suggesting B blood type as a deleterious factor in COVID-19 infection.
Conclusions:
ABO blood group system is associated with poor prognosis of COVID-19 infection. Blood group O may protects, and subjects with blood type B could be susceptible to COVID-19 mortality. However, further studies on COVID-19 infected patients in different population are required to validate our findings.
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