Do certain blood groups increase COVID-19 severity and mortality?

The existence of a relationship between the ABO blood group and COVID-19 severity and mortality is still an unresolved concern. Some studies report that groups O and A show a lower and higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 and mortality, respectively. Some studies also report the reverse. There are inconclusive results from different studies. Thus, this study sought to determine the possible associations of ABO blood type with COVID-19 severity and mortality.

A retrospective study was conducted among 570 adults with real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction confirmed positive COVID-19 patients attending Eka Kotebe General Hospital, COVID-19 Treatment Center. A Kaplan-Meier survival curve was computed to examine the difference in survival experience between ABO blood groups. Multinomial and binary logistic regression models were fitted to determine the association between ABO blood group with COVID-19 severity and mortality, respectively.

238 (41.8 %) COVID-19 patients had blood group B, followed by 201 (35.3 %) A, 82 (14.4 %) O, and 49 (8.6 %) AB blood type. 23.68 % of participants develop severe COVID-19. Overall, 15.26 % COVID-19-related mortality was found. No difference in survival experience was observed between ABO blood types. There was no statistically significant association between ABO blood type and COVID-19 severity, and mortality.

We found no relationship between ABO blood group differences and COVID-19 severity, and mortality. Further, well-design-controlled studies are suggested to explore the potential link of ABO blood group with COVID-19 severity and mortality.