Testing the association between blood type and COVID-19 infection, intubation, and death

Michael Zietz; Nicholas P. Tatonetti

We first determined blood groups for SARS-CoV-2-tested individuals using laboratory measurements recorded in the NYP/CUIMC EHR system. One individual with multiple contradictory blood group measurements was excluded, resulting in 1,559 individuals with known blood groups who received a SARS-CoV-2 test (either positive or negative result). Of these, 682 were COV+ (positive in at least one SARS-CoV-2 test) and 877 were COV-(negative in all SARS-CoV-2 tests administered). Among the COV+ individuals, 179 were intubated and 80 had died, while the remaining individuals had not been intubated and were alive as of April 5, 2020. We found that 354 tested COV-individuals were intubated during the same time, though we did not include them in any analysis. Table 1 gives a summary of the cohort we considered. * AB-negative was not included in the ABO+Rh analyses as no individuals with that blood type recorded tested positive for COVID-19.