The potential use of ABO blood group system for risk stratification of COVID-19

AbdelMassih, Antoine Fakhry; Mahrous, Reham; Taha, AbdelFattah; Saud, Alaa; Osman, Aliaa; Kamel, Bishoy; Yacoub, Elaria; Menshawey, Esraa; Ismail, Habiba-Allah; Aita, Lina; Dous, Maria; Saad, Marina; AbdelAziz, Mariam; Zaghar, Mario; Shebl, Noura; El-Husseiny, Nadine; Fahmy, Nourhan; Hegazy, Nouran; Khalid, Omar; Saad, Osama; Afdal, Peter; Menshawey, Rahma; Husseiny, Reem; Sherien, Sandra; Salama, Sara; Gad, Salma; Ali, Sajjad; Maalim, Sayid; Ismail, Sarah; ElHefnawi, Yara; Aziz, Youstina; Fouda, Raghda

ABO blood groups is a cheap and affordable test that can be immediately retrieved from COVID-19 patients at the diagnosis. There is increasing evidence that non-O blood groups have both higher susceptibility and higher severity of COVID-19 infections. The reason behind such relationship seems elusive. Regarding susceptibility, Non-O individuals have Anti-A antibodies which can prevent viral entry across ACE-2 receptors, moreover, Non-O individuals are at higher risk of autoimmunity, hypercoagulable state, and dysbiosis resulting in an augmented tendency for vascular inflammatory sequelae of COVID-19. We can conclude, on the diagnostic level, that ABO blood groups can be potentially used for risk stratification of affected COVID-19 patients, to anticipate the deterioration of patients at higher risk for complications. On a therapeutic level, plasma from normal O blood group individuals might potentially replace the use of convalescent serum for the treatment of COVID-19.