Background Disease severity among patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 varies remarkably. Preliminary studies reported that the ABO blood group system confers differential viral susceptibility and disease severity caused by SARS-CoV-2. Thus, differences in ABO blood group phenotypes may partly explain the observed heterogeneity in COVID-19 severity patterns, and could help identify individuals at increased risk. Herein, we explored the association between ABO blood group phenotypes and COVID-19 susceptibility and severity in a Saudi Arabian cohort. Methods In this retrospective cohort study, we performed ABO typing on a total of 373 Saudi patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 and conducted association analysis between ABO blood group phenotype and COVID-19 infection severity. We then performed gender-stratified analysis by dividing the participating patients into two groups by gender, and classified them according to age. Results The frequencies of blood group phenotypes A, B, AB and O were 27.3, 23.6, 5.4 and 43.7%, respectively. We found that blood group phenotype O was associated with a lower risk of testing positive for COVID-19 infection (OR 0.76 95% CI 0.62–0.95, p = 0.0113), while blood group phenotype B was associated with higher odds of testing positive (OR 1.51 95% CI 1.17–1.93, p = 0.0009). However, blood group phenotype B was associated with increased risk in the mild and moderate group but not the severe COVID-19 infection group. Blood group phenotype O was protective in all severity groups. Conclusion Our findings provide evidence that blood group phenotype B is a risk for COVID-19 disease while blood group phenotype O is protective from COVID-19 infection. However, further studies are necessary to validate these associations in a larger sample size and among individuals of different ethnic groups.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, risk, Saudi Arabia, ABO, 【초록키워드】 Ethnic groups, severe COVID-19, susceptibility, severity, disease severity, COVID-19 severity, Gender, heterogeneity, COVID-19 disease, Cohort, COVID-19 infection, Patient, phenotype, Mild, age, moderate, Blood Group, Protective, COVID-19 susceptibility, association, Evidence, Frequency, Analysis, retrospective cohort study, Sample size, 95% CI, increased risk, individual, help, lower risk, positive, Result, identify, performed, caused, reported, conducted, two group, groups, explain, ABO typing, higher odd, infected with SARS-CoV-2, 【제목키워드】 group,