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

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

Given the effects on inflammation, endothelial function, and microvascular coagulation of ABO glycoproteins by changing blood concentrations of soluble ICAM-1, selectins, vWF, and thrombomodulin [32] [33] [34] , the ABO glycans may be important mediators of ARDS or AKI in critically ill patients. Previous studies showed that blood type A was associated with a higher risk of developing ARDS and AKI in the ICU among individuals of European descent, but not in those with African descent [34, 35] . This means that racial divergence and environmental factors may alter the ABO-ARDS or ABO-AKI associations. It is plausible to hypothesize that the existing conclusion drawn in European descent with trauma or severe sepsis may not be applied to the Asian population with COVID-19. Furthermore, there is insufficient evidence regarding the pathophysiologic mechanism and features of ARDS or AKI that occurs secondary to SARS-CoV-2 infection [32] [33] [34] [35] .