"People with blood type A might be more vulnerable to the coronavirus, while those with type O blood could be more resistant, according to a new preliminary study from China.
Researchers studying COVID-19 in its outbreak epicenter, Wuhan, and the city of Shenzhen found the proportion of type A patients both infected and killed by the disease to be “significantly” higher than those with the same blood type in the general public.
Type O patients, meanwhile, made up a smaller proportion of both those infected and killed by the virus.
“People of blood group A might need particularly strengthened personal protection to reduce the chance of infection,” wrote the researchers at the Centre for Evidence-Based and Translational Medicine based out of Wuhan.
The team, led by Wang Xinghuan, couched the study as “preliminary,” with more work needing to be done to develop concrete findings.
The research, published on Medrxiv.org, compared blood types of 2,173 confirmed coronavirus cases in Wuhan and Shenzhen with more than 3,694 healthy residents in the Wuhan area.
While 31.16 percent of Wuhan residents had type A blood, 37.75 percent of surveyed coronavirus patients at the local Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital were of the same blood type.
And of the same sample of coronavirus cases at the hospital, 25.8 percent had type O blood, compared to 33.84 percent in the general population.
The study also examined 206 patients who died from the virus, finding 85 victims, or 41.26 percent, had type A blood. Just 52 of the deaths, or about a quarter, had type O.
Scientists not involved with the study told S. China Morning Post that a much larger sample size was needed to guide medical practices."
SOURCE QUOTED FROM: "People with blood type A might be more susceptible to coronavirus, study finds." By Vincent Barone. March 17, 2020 at 6:17 PM. "New York Post"
@Nataliesgramma @Porcelain @JustJazzmom @morganjen @chessylady Here is the actual preview of the study: @noodleann
NOTE THAT THIS IS IN PREPRINT AND HAS NOT BEEN PEER REVIEWED YET. SAMPLE SIZE IS SMALL TOO.
OBJECTIVE To investigate the relationship between the ABO blood group and the COVID-19 susceptibility. DESIGN The study was conducted by comparing the blood group distribution in 2,173 patients with COVID-19 confirmed by SARS-CoV-2 test from three hospitals in Wuhan and Shenzhen, China with that in normal people from the corresponding regions. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and 2-tailed χ2 and a meta-analysis was performed by random effects models. SETTING Three tertiary hospitals in Wuhan and Shenzhen, China. PARTICIPANTS A total of 1,775 patients with COVID-19, including 206 dead cases, from Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, Wuhan, China were recruited. Another 113 and 285 patients with COVID-19 were respectively recruited from Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan and Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, Shenzhen, China. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Detection of ABO blood groups, infection occurrence of SARS-CoV-2, and patient death RESULTS The ABO group in 3694 normal people in Wuhan showed a distribution of 32.16%, 24.90%, 9.10% and 33.84% for A, B, AB and O, respectively, versus the distribution of 37.75%, 26.42%, 10.03% and 25.80% for A, B, AB and O, respectively, in 1775 COVID-19 patients from Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital. The proportion of blood group A and O in COVID-19 patients were significantly higher and lower, respectively, than that in normal people (both P < 0.001). Similar ABO distribution pattern was observed in 398 patients from another two hospitals in Wuhan and Shenzhen. Meta-analyses on the pooled data showed that blood group A had a significantly higher risk for COVID-19 (odds ratio-OR, 1.20; 95% confidence interval-CI 1.02~1.43, P = 0.02) compared with non-A blood groups, whereas blood group O had a significantly lower risk for the infectious disease (OR, 0.67; 95% CI 0.60~0.75, P < 0.001) compared with non-O blood groups.In addition, the influence of age and gender on the ABO blood group distribution in patients with COVID-19 from two Wuhan hospitals (1,888 patients) were analyzed and found that age and gender do not have much effect on the distribution. CONCLUSION People with blood group A have a significantly higher risk for acquiring COVID-19 compared with non-A blood groups, whereas blood group O has a significantly lower risk for the infection compared with non-O blood groups."