Association of ABO and Rh blood group with susceptibility, severity and mortality of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) - A tertiary hospital based study in Gondia Maharashtra, India

Background: Couple of years passed since the first inception of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus-2; (COVID-19) from Wuhan China, spreading its tentacles across the world resulting in a pandemic situation of modern times, leading to numerous mortal deaths across the world. Since classical blood groups ABO and Rhesus blood groups are linked with various viral diseases the objective of the study was to find out if any association of susceptibility, severity and mortality of exists after covid -19 with classical blood group ABO and Rhesus blood.Objective: The main objective of this study was to find if any association of susceptibility (vulnerability) of COVID-19 infection and ABO & Rhesus blood type among Indian population.Materials and Methods: A tertiary hospital based study conducted retrospectively among SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) infected hospitalized patients above the age of 18 years of both sexes. A total of 583 (Five hundred eighty-three) COVID-19 positive adult hospitalized patients were included for the study and equal number of non COVID-19 adult patients was taken as a comparison group. Statistical significant was tested using Chi-square test.Results: The findings revealed a higher number of COVID-19 patients belonging to the AB blood group whereas it was least in type O blood group. No statistically significant association was obtained pertaining to susceptibility, severity and mortality of COVID-19 infection with classical blood groups ABO and Rh types.Conclusion: The susceptibility, severity and mortality related to COVID-19 were not associated with classical ABO blood groups and Rh types.