The association between ABO blood group and SARS-CoV-2 infection: A meta-analysis

Abstract

At present, existing evidence about the association between SARS-CoV-2 infection and ABO blood group polymorphism is preliminary and controversial. In this meta-analysis we investigate this association and determine SARS-CoV-2 positive individuals' odds of having a specific blood group compared to controls. We performed a systematic search on MED-LINE and LitCovid databases for studies published through July 15, 2020. Seven studies met inclusion criteria for meta-analysis, including a total of 13 subgroups of populations (7503 SARS-CoV-2 positive cases and 2962160 controls). We analysed the odds of having each blood group among SARS-CoV-2 positive patients compared with controls. Randomeffects models were used to obtain the overall pooled odds ratio (OR). Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were performed in order to explore the source of heterogeneity and results consistency. The results of our meta-analysis indicate that SARS-CoV-2 positive individuals are more likely to have blood group A (pooled OR 1.23, 95%CI: 1.09-1.40) and less likely to have blood group O (pooled OR = 0.77, 95%CI: 0.67-0.88). Further studies are needed to investigate the mechanisms at the basis of this association, which may affect the kinetics of the pandemic according to the blood group distribution within the population.

The Impact of ABO Blood Grouping on COVID-19 Vulnerability and Seriousness: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Controlled Study among the Arab Community

“…The present study findings are in line with the studies carried in France (patients with blood type O required more O2 and ICU) [17,18], Canada (patients with blood type O were less infected with a severe illness) [20], Turkey (patients with blood type O were less infected and those with blood type A less associated with mortality) [22], Spain [16], China [24], Denmark [27], Sudan [30], and Iran [31] and the metanalysis carried out by [32] (patients with blood type O were less infected).…”

Life-Threatening COVID-19: Defective Interferons Unleash Excessive Inflammation

“… 7 / Golinelli et al. 6 Group O NS / 0.77 c 0.45/0.30–0.57 d rs73064425 (chr3p21.31): e intronic variant of LZTFL1 2.11 / 2.14 0.08 f (0.001–0.28) Ellinghaus et al. 5 / Pairo-Castineira et al.…”

“… 10 All studies compared patients presenting critical disease with patients presenting mild or asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection as controls, except for the meta-analysis of Golinelli et al. 6 and the GWASs of Ellinghaus et al. 5 and Pairo-Castineira et al., 8 which used controls from the general population.…”

“… c Pooled odds ratio obtained in the meta-analysis of Golinelli et al. 6 comparing the corresponding blood group with all other blood groups, and considering hospitalized COVID-19 patients as cases, and subjects from various cohorts (blood donors, general population, and patients hospitalized for conditions other than COVID-19) as controls. d Range of frequencies of the corresponding blood group observed in the control group of the studies contributing to the meta-analysis of Golinelli et al.…”

ABO-RH blood group and risk of covid-19 in a moroccan population

“…Based on clinical observations, patient age, male gender and presence of certain underlying pathologies (primarily cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and diabetes) have been highlighted as risk factors predisposing to infection with SARS-CoV-2 and higher severity [2]. More recently, epidemiological and molecular studies seemed to report preliminary evidence on a correlation between the risk of contagion by SARS-CoV-2 and the erythrocyte phenotype determined by the ABO-RH system, the exact mechanisms of which are not yet well determined [3][4]. On the other hand, the association between blood groups and vulnerability or resistance to certain infectious pathologies has been demonstrated by older studies.…”