Relationship between COVID-19 Infection and ABO Blood Groups Differences: A Tertiary Centre Experience in Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia

Abdulhalem A. Jan¹, Ahmed M. Aljeraisi², Abdullah M. Algarni³, Mohammed A. Almozini⁴, Nashwa A. Alsyed⁵, Suliman A. Alharbi⁶, Muhammad A. Tobaiqi⁷, Hemaed Aljabri⁸, Nasser M. Mulla^{1, 7}, Alaa A. Alsayed⁹ and Salah Mohamed El Sayed^{10, 11,}

¹Laboratory and Blood Bank Director, King Fahad Hospital, Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia

²Rehabilitation Hospital, Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia

³Infection Control, King Fahad Hospital, Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia

⁴Laboratory, King Fahad Hospital, Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia

⁵Quality control, King Fahad Hospital, Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia

⁶Immunology department, King Fahad Hospital, Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia

⁷Department of Medicine, Taibah University, Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia

⁸Blood Bank Department, King Fahad Hospital, Madinah

⁹Chief Risk Officer, Madinah Health Cluster, Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia

¹⁰0Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Taibah Faculty of Medicine, Taibah University, Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia

¹¹1Department of Medical Biochemistry, Sohag Faculty of Medicine, Sohag University, Egypt

Cite this paper:
Abdulhalem A. Jan, Ahmed M. Aljeraisi, Abdullah M. Algarni, Mohammed A. Almozini, Nashwa A. Alsyed, Suliman A. Alharbi, Muhammad A. Tobaiqi, Hemaed Aljabri, Nasser M. Mulla, Alaa A. Alsayed and Salah Mohamed El Sayed. Relationship between COVID-19 Infection and ABO Blood Groups Differences: A Tertiary Centre Experience in Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia. American Journal of Biomedical Research. 2021; 9(2):36-42. doi: 10.12691/ajbr-9-2-3

Abstract

Controversial factors affecting COVID-19 infection include age, ethnicity, blood groups and Rh factor were investigated here. This study enrolled 2012 participants: COVID-19 cases (1006 patients), and control group (1006 subjects), 50.9% were Saudis and 49.1% were non-Saudis. Mean age for all participants was 36.0±12.7 years and ranged from 8 to 80 years. Mean age was 38.6+15.3 years for COVID-19+ve cases and 33.4±8.6 years for controls. Mean age significantly differed in COVID-19+ve cases from controls (p<0.001). COVID-19 infection was significant in Saudi participants compared to non-Saudi participants (p<0.001). In COVID-19 group, the frequencies of blood groups O, A, B and AB were 44.5%, 31.3%, 19.7% and 4.5%, respectively. The percentage of COVID-19 infection was higher in subjects having blood groups O and A. Regarding Rh factor, 94.0% of all participants were Rh+ve and 6.0% were Rh-ve. Among COVID+ve cases, 93.4% were Rh positive cases and 6.6% were Rh negative cases, while in the controls, 94.5% were Rh+ve and 5.5% were Rh-ve. The number of COVID-19+ve cases exceeded the number of healthy controls in A+ve subjects but not in O+ve and B+ve subjects. In multivariate analysis, people with blood groups B and AB were less likely to be infected (p =0.049) compared to those with groups O and A. In conclusion, older adults had greater risk of COVID-19 infection. Gatherings culture increased COVID-19 infection. Individuals with blood groups B and AB are less likely to get COVID-19 infection than O and A subjects. Rh+ve in O+ve and A+ve is associated with increased COVID-19 infection.

Keywords:
COVID-19 Rh+ve Rh-ve ABO blood groups ethnicity COVID-19 infection

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