Association between ABO blood groups and COVID-19 infection, severity and demise: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Infect Genet Evol. 2020 Oct:84:104485. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2020.104485. Epub 2020 Jul 30.

Abstract

Background and aims: The COVID-19 spreads rapidly around the world which has brought a global health crisis. The pathogen of COVID-19 is SARS-COV-2, and previous studies have proposed the relationship between ABO blood group and coronavirus. Here, we aim to delve into the association between ABO blood group and COVID-19 infection, severity and demise.

Methods: The relevant studies were retrieved from five databases: PubMed, MedRxiv, BioRxiv,Web of Science and CNKI. Members of cases(symptomatic cases, severe cases, died cases) and controls(asymptomatic controls, non-severe controls, alive controls) were extracted from collected studies. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated and interpreted from extracted data. Publication bias and sensitivity analysis were also applied to confirm our discovery.

Results: Overall 31,100 samples were included in the analysis. Compared to other ABO blood type, an increased odds of infecting COVID-19 among individuals with A blood group (OR: 1.249, 95%CI: 1.114-1.440, P < 0.001) and a decreased odds of infecting COVID-19 among individuals with blood group O (OR: 0.699, 95%CI: 0.635-0.770, P < 0.001) were found. Besides, individuals with blood group AB seems to link a higher risk to COVID-19 severity (OR: 2.424, 95%CI: 0.934-6.294) and demise (OR: 1.348, 95%CI: 0.507-3.583). Meantime, individuals with O blood group might had lower risk to COVID-19 severity (OR: 0.748, 95%CI: 0.556-1.007), and individuals with B blood group were likely to relate a lower risk to COVID-19 demise.

Conclusions: The current meta-analysis suggest that blood type A might be more susceptible to infect COVID-19 while blood type O might be less susceptible to infect COVID-19; there were no correlation between ABO blood group and severity or demise of COVID-19. However, more investigation and research are warranted to clarify the relationship between COVID-19 and ABO blood type.

Keywords: ABO blood group system; COVID-19; Meta-analysis; Mortality; Susceptibility; Systematic review.

Publication types

  • Meta-Analysis
  • Systematic Review

MeSH terms

  • ABO Blood-Group System / genetics
  • ABO Blood-Group System / immunology*
  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Betacoronavirus / pathogenicity*
  • Betacoronavirus / physiology
  • COVID-19
  • Coronavirus Infections / genetics
  • Coronavirus Infections / immunology*
  • Coronavirus Infections / mortality
  • Coronavirus Infections / pathology
  • Disease Susceptibility
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Odds Ratio
  • Pandemics
  • Pneumonia, Viral / genetics
  • Pneumonia, Viral / immunology*
  • Pneumonia, Viral / mortality
  • Pneumonia, Viral / pathology
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Risk
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Severity of Illness Index
  • Survival Analysis

Substances

  • ABO Blood-Group System