As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the global biomedical research community is working tirelessly to identify coronavirus risk factors and potential therapeutic targets. The potential role of blood type in predicting the risk and complications of COVID-19 infection is therefore presented as a scientific dilemma to consider.
Now, two new studies published in the journal Blood Advances offer new evidence of the link between blood type and COVID-19 risk, suggesting that people with blood type O appear to have a lower risk of becoming seriously ill with the infection . while people with blood groups A or AB tend to exhibit a greater severity of the disease.
They are not the first studies to find this relationship. Previously, another range of research had brought to the table the possibility that people with type O blood appear to be less likely than any other blood type to test positive for COVID.
While it’s not yet clear whether this link is a direct cause-and-effect relationship , the repeating baseline idea is that blood type could play a crucial role in how COVID-19 affects humans.
First study
The researchers compared data from the Danish health registry of more than 473,000 people who were tested for COVID-19 with data from a control group of more than 2.2 million people from the general population. Among the positive COVID-19s, they found fewer people with blood type O and more people with types A, B and AB.
“It is very important to consider the appropriate control group because the prevalence of blood type can vary considerably in different ethnic groups and different countries,” says Torben Barington from Odense University Hospital and the University of Southern Denmark. “We have the advantage of having a strong control group: Denmark is a small, ethnically homogeneous country with a public health system and a central registry of laboratory data, so our control is population-based, which gives a solid foundation for our findings . “
Second study
The second study examined data from 95 critically ill people who were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Vancouver, Canada. They found that patients with blood groups A or AB were more likely to need mechanical ventilation, with 84% of patients A or AB requiring mechanical ventilation compared to 61% of patients O or B. They also found that groups Blood types A or AB were more likely to require dialysis for kidney failure, suggesting that these blood types may have a higher risk of complications from COVID-19 than people with blood types O or B.
Be that as it may, further research is needed to better understand why this occurs and what it means for patients, as it is unclear how the relationship between blood group and disease works and any association could be mere coincidence. So for now, let’s follow local social distancing measures and wear a mask.
References: Mike Bogetofte Barnkob, Anton Pottegård, Henrik Støvring, Thure Mors Haunstrup, Keld Homburg, Rune Larsen, Morten Bagge Hansen, Kjell Titlestad, Bitten Aagaard, Bjarne Kuno Møller, Torben Barington. Reduced prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in ABO blood group O. Blood Advances, 2020; 4 (20): 4990 DOI: 10.1182 / bloodadvances.2020002657 // Ryan L. Hoiland, Nicholas A. Fergusson, Anish R. Mitra, Donald EG Griesdale, Dana V. Devine, Sophie Stukas, Jennifer Cooper, Sonny Thiara, Denise Foster , Luke YC Chen, Agnes YY Lee, Edward M. Conway, Cheryl L. Wellington, Mypinder S. Sekhon. The association of ABO blood group with indices of disease severity and multiorgan dysfunction in COVID-19. Blood Advances, 2020; 4 (20): 4981 DOI: 10.1182 / bloodadvances.2020002623
