Association between ABO blood groups and clinical outcome of coronavirus disease 2019: Evidence from two cohorts

Zeng, Xianfei; Fan, Hongyan; Lu, Dongxue; Huang, Fang; Meng, Xi; Li, Zhuo; Tang, Mei; Zhang, Jing; Liu, Nannan; Liu, Zhixin; Zhao, Jingya; Yin, Wen; An, Qunxing; Zhang, Xijing; Hu, Xingbin

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become the third most common coronavirus that causes large-scale infections worldwide. The correlations between pathogen susceptibility and blood type distribution have attracted attention decades ago. The current retrospective study aimed to examine the correlation between blood type distribution and SARS-CoV-2 infection, progression, and prognosis in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). With 265 patients from multiple medical centers and two established cohorts, we found that the blood type A population was more sensitive to SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, the blood type distribution was not relevant to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), acute kidney injury (AKI), and mortality in COVID-19 patients. These findings are indicative of coping with the great threat since it probed the relationship between blood types and ARDS, AKI, and mortality, in addition to susceptibility in COVID-19 patients.