Relationship Between Blood Group and Risk of Infection and Death in COVID-19: a live Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Introduction: The relationship between ABO blood group and the incidence of COVID-19 infection and death has been investigated in several studies. The reported results were controversial, so the objective of the present study is to assess the relationship between different blood groups and the onset and mortality of COVID-19 infection using meta-analysis method. Methods: We searched the databases using appropriate MeSH terms. We screened articles on the basis of titles, abstracts, and full texts and the articles that met the inclusion criteria were selected. Quality assessment was done with the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale checklist. The estimated frequency of COVID-19 infection and death in terms of ABO blood group and the overall estimate of the odd ratio between blood group with COVID-19 infection and death was done with 95% confidence interval. Results: The pooled frequency of blood groups A, B, O, and AB among COVID-19 infected individuals was estimated as 36.22%, 24.99%, 29.67%, and 9.29% respectively. The frequency of blood groups A, B, O, and AB among the dead cases due to COVID-19 infection was estimated as 40%, 23%, 29%, and 8% respectively. The odd ratio of COVID-19 infection for blood group A versus the other blood groups was estimated 1.16 (CI 95%: 1.02-1.33). The corresponding figures for blood groups O and AB versus other blood groups were estimated as 0.73 (CI 95%: 0.60-0.88) and 1.25(CI 95%: 0.84-1.86) respectively. Conclusion: This meta-analysis showed that individuals with blood group A are at higher risk for COVID-19 infection while those with blood group O are at lower risk. Although the odds ratio of death for AB blood group was non-significant, it was considerable.

Anxiety and Depression in Health Workers and General Population During COVID‐19 in IRAN: A Cross‐Sectional Study

“…16.5% reported moderate to severe depressive symptoms, and 28.8% reported moderate to severe anxiety symptoms. Females, students, and those with physical symptoms and poor health had significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression 25 . This is in line with a systematic review where students, females, and individuals with the symptoms of COVID‐19 had higher rates of depression and anxiety 26 .…”

Genetic architecture of host proteins involved in SARS-CoV-2 infection

“…Anticoagulation is associated with a better outcome in patients with severe COVID-19 37 , and randomized controlled trials are underway to evaluate the benefit or harms of anticoagulant therapies. We note that while there is some evidence [38][39][40] of an increased risk for individuals of blood group A (tagged by rs657152) to experience more severe COVID-19 based on observational studies, results are not entirely consistent 41 . Support for the reported genetic findings also warrants further investigation, since early data releases from the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative did not replicate the published GWAS results for the ABO locus (https://www.covid19hg.org/, release 3, June 2020).…”

Clinical and Epidemiological Characteristics of COVID-19 Mortality in Saudi Arabia: A Retrospective Multi-Center Study

“…(21) , (22) A paper by Adiah et al mentioned groups AB and B+ AB to be significantly associated with increased risk to develop COVID-19 were associated with increased risk of death in deceased cases. (23) A meta-analysis by Pourali states that individuals with blood group A are at higher risk for COVID-19 infection while those with blood group O are at a lower risk (24). Consistent with previous reports(17) -(25), the most common presented comorbidity among mortality cases were diabetes (73.7%) and hypertension (69.6%).…”