People with blood group O less susceptible to COVID-19: Lung, kidney damage likely in A, AB blood types

A new study says that people with blood type 'O' may have a lower risk of COVID-19 infection and reduced likelihood of severe outcomes.

New research adds to the growing body of evidence that people with blood type 'O' may have a lower risk of COVID-19 infection and reduced likelihood of severe outcomes, including organ complications if they do get sick. Two studies published in the journal Blood Advances suggest that individuals with blood type 'O' may be less vulnerable to COVID-19 infection. A study at the University of Southern Denmark says that it is very important to consider the proper control group because blood type prevalence may vary considerably in different ethnic groups and different countries. Denmark is a small, ethnically homogenous country with a public health system and a central registry for lab data. So, the control for this study is population-based, giving the findings a strong foundation. For the findings, the research team compared Danish health registry data from more than 473,000 individuals tested for COVID-19 to data from a control group of more than 2.2 million people from the general population.

Groups A and AB at increases risk of severe clinical outcome

Among the COVID-19 positive, researchers found fewer people with blood type 'O' and more people with 'A', 'B', and 'AB' types. The study results suggest that people with blood types 'A', 'B', or 'AB' may be more likely to be infected with COVID-19 than people with type 'O'. The researchers did not find any significant difference in the rate of infection between 'A', 'B', and 'AB' types. The findings also showed that blood groups 'A' and 'AB' associated with an increased risk of severe clinical outcomes of COVID-19 infection.

Lung, kidney damage common in type A and AB

People with blood groups 'A' or 'AB' appear to exhibit greater Covid-19 disease severity than people with blood groups 'O' or 'B', according to a separate retrospective study. Researchers found that patients with blood groups 'A' or 'AB' were more likely to require mechanical ventilation, suggesting that they had greater rates of lung injury from COVID-19. They also found more patients with blood group 'A' and 'AB' required dialysis for kidney failure. The unique part of this study is the focus on the severity effect of blood type on COVID-19. Researchers observed lung and kidney damage, and in future studies, they want to tease out the effect of blood group and COVID-19 on other vital organs.

Blood type A may mean indicate higher risk of infection

Earlier, another study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases found that people with blood group 'A' may be more prone to COVID-19 infection while those with blood type 'O' have a lower risk of contracting the virus. Yet another earlier study by a US-based biotechnology company, 23andMe, said that people with O-type blood group are less likely to catch the COVID-19 infection. This study had said that individuals with O blood type were around 9-18 per cent less likely to test positive for COVID-19 than individuals with other blood types. It also found that people with blood group AB were the most likely to test positive for COVID-19 infection, followed by blood group B and then blood group A.

(With inputs from IANS)