Possible Link Between COVID-19 Susceptibility and Blood Type

Individuals with blood type O may have a reduced COVID-19 infection risk and a lower likelihood of severe outcomes, including organ complications, revealed two studies published today in Blood Advances.

Study Details & Findings

Danish health registry data from more than 473,000 individuals tested for COVID-19 to data from a control group of more than 2.2 million people from the general population were compared by researchers.

‘People with O blood groups may have the lowest COVID-19 infection risk, while people with A and AB blood groups may have a higher risk of severe clinical outcomes.’

People with blood types A, B, or AB may be more likely to be infected with COVID-19 than people with type O.

A and AB blood groups were linked to a higher risk of severe clinical outcomes of COVID-19 infection.

"It is very important to consider the proper control group because blood type prevalence may vary considerably in different ethnic groups and different countries," said study author Torben Barington, MD, of Odense University Hospital and the University of Southern Denmark. "We have the advantage of a strong control group - Denmark is a small, ethnically homogenous country with a public health system and a central registry for lab data - so our control is population-based, giving our findings a strong foundation."

In another study, researchers examined data from 95 critically ill coronavirus patients hospitalized in Vancouver, Canada. The study findings revealed that COVID-19 patients with blood groups A or AB:

• Were more likely to require mechanical ventilation.
• Require dialysis for kidney failure. Patients in these two blood groups may have an increased risk of organ dysfunction or failure.
• Remain in the intensive care unit (ICU) for a longer average time, which may also signal a greater COVID-19 severity level.

"The unique part of our study is our focus on the severity effect of blood type on COVID-19. We observed this lung and kidney damage, and in future studies, we will want to tease out the effect of blood group and COVID-19 on other vital organs," said study author Mypinder S. Sekhon, MD, of the University of British Columbia. "Of particular importance as we continue to traverse the pandemic, we now have a wide range of survivors who are exiting the acute part of COVID-19, but we need to explore mechanisms by which to risk stratify those with longer-term effects."

Source: Medindia