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Abstract
Aim: Since March 11, 2020, when the World Health Organization accepted the COVID-19 disease (SARS-CoV 2) as a pandemic, it has become important to determine the risk factors for the disease. A relationship has been shownbetween blood groups and many diseases. We aimed to investigate whether blood groups and the Rh factor are risk factors for COVID-19 disease.
Methods: Patients who presented atour Hospital between 15 March 2020 and 30 November 2020 were evaluated retrospectively with an observational-sectional study. The demographic information of the patients, ABO blood groups, nasopharyngeal swab results, thorax CT results, number of days of hospitalization in COVID-19 inpatient clinics and/or intensive care units, theseverity of the disease, andtheclinical outcome results were recorded.
Results: A total of 21,144 patients with ICD codes of COVID-19 (U07.3) and observation for suspicious disease or condition, unspecified (Z03.9) were screened. A total of 4,515 patients, including 4,201 patients with positive PCR in nasopharyngeal and/or nasal swab samplesand 314 patients who were PCR negative but had appropriate radiological findingswere included in the study. The COVID-19 ABO Blood groups weredistributed asA in 50.8% (n=755), O in 25.5% (n= 379), B in14.4% (n=214), and AB in9.3% (n=138).TheABO blood groups were Rh [+] in 87.6% (n=1302). When the ABO and Rh distributions were compared with pre-pandemic ABO country data, the rate of blood group A was found to be significantly higher and the rate of blood group O to be lower in Covid-19 patients. No significant difference was detected between the Rh blood groups.
Conclusions: We think that determining the risk factors for COVID-19 disease is important for public health, and thattheABO blood groups can help in this regard. Individuals with the A blood group can be included in the priority group for the SARS CoV-2 vaccine.