Blood groups and COVID-19: Exploring the link

The SARS COVID-19 pandemic took the whole world by storm due to its high and rapid infectivity. As it spread, its patterns became clear, and it became evident that a few individuals were more predisposed to it than others. Showing a massive inflammatory response by the body, and a negative coagulative affect, doctors and scientists began to perceive the role of blood cells, and hence blood types in the disease process. This lead to the main objective of this research: to assess the link between COVID19 infection and blood group types, and follow disease outcome according to it. The study comprises data collected from patients within 3 hospital setting of Northern Pakistan, viz Military Hospital Rawalpindi, Benazir Bhutto Hospital Rawalpindi, and Pakistan institute of medical sciences Islamabad. The study was conducted during a period of 1 month i-e from 15th June 2020 to 15th July 2020 after approval by the worthy Ethical review committee of PEMH. The study design was Analytical- Case series. Purposive Sampling technique was used. The sample size was 306 based on WHO sample calculator. Patients who were PCR positive and symptomatic for COVID-19 were included whereas PCR negative and asymptomatic patients were excluded. SPSS version 25 was used to process the data and Graphs and Charts were used to explain it. Among 306 patients of COVID 19 the most commonly affected blood group was A+ve followed by B+ve. The least affected blood group was O of which both positive and negative contributed to 17.71%. A blood group contributed 36%, while B 35% and AB 10.8%. The study substantiates that blood group A Rh positive has more susceptibility for SARS COVID-19 infection than other blood group types. Blood group O might have a protective effect against this infection.