Determining the Possible Effects of Blood Groups on Covid-19 Positivity in Humans

INTRODUCTION: Since COVID-19 disease spreads very rapidly in society, the effect of genetic blood types on people catching the disease should be investigated. In this study, the aim was to investigate whether there is a relationship between ABO and Rh blood group systems and COVID-19 disease, severity and frequency.
METHODS: The blood groups of 16,913 patients treated with the diagnosis of COVID-19 between March 10, 2020 and March 31, 2021 and 23,141 control cases were compared retrospectively. The blood group distributions of the patients treated in the intensive care unit were examined.
RESULTS: Among the COVID-19 positive patients, the percentage of patients with blood group A (45.04%) was statistically significantly higher than the percentage of patients with blood group O (26.69%), blood group B (17.16%) and blood group AB (8.09%). The percentage of COVID-19 positive patients who were Rh positive (88.06%) was statistically significantly higher than the percentage who were Rh negative (11.93%). Among the COVID-19 patients, 7354 (43.48%) of 16913 patients were hospitalized and treated in the intensive care unit. The distribution of patients treated in the intensive care unit by blood group was blood group A 46.0%, blood group O 28.95%, blood group B 17.36%, and blood group AB 7.65%. In the intensive care unit, 6445 were Rh (+) (87.63%) and 909 were Rh (-) (12.36%).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: It was determined that the risk of COVID-19 disease is associated with ABO and Rh blood groups.We think that blood groups have an important role in the follow-up and treatment of covid -19 disease.