Coronavirus: are people with blood group A really at higher risk of catching COVID-19?

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Coronavirus: are people with blood group A really at higher risk of catching COVID-19?


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angellodeco/Shutterstock



Sakthivel Vaiyapuri, University of Reading



A recent study from China, which has not been peer reviewed yet, suggests a link between having blood group A and a higher risk of getting COVID-19, compared with people who have blood group O. But is this really the case?



As many of us know, there are different blood groups found in humans. Primarily, we differentiate between the A, B, AB and O blood groups. These mean a distinctive sugar molecule is present on the surface of red blood cells for each group.



Commonly, more people are blood group O than blood group A and other groups. For example, in the UK, 48% of people possess blood group O while 38%, 10% and 3% have A, B and AB blood groups, respectively.



The differentiation by blood grouping plays a critical role during blood donation and transfusion to patients. Although the blood-grouping molecules play a role in red blood cells, we do not fully understand their function.


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Differentiating blood groups is critical for blood donations.
LightField Studios/Shutterstock





The recent Chinese study, conducted by researchers including from the Zhongnan Hospital at Wuhan University, retrospectively analysed the blood groups of patients from three hospitals in China, two in Wuhan and one in Shenzhen. All of the 2,173 patients had been diagnosed with COVID-19.



At the Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, they also analysed blood types of 3,694 people who didn’t have COVID-19 and found that 32% had blood group A and 34% had blood group O. Among the 1,775 COVID-19 patients at the hospital, 38% had blood group A and 26% blood group O.



For the other Wuhan hospital in the study – Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University – they did not provide data for the control population. But of the 113 COVID-19 patients they analysed, 40% had blood group A and 25% blood group O.



At Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital, 29% of the control population (23,386) had blood group A and 39% blood group O. And of the 285 COVID-19 patients, 28.8% had blood group A and 28.4% blood group O. Although there was a significant difference between the patients of COVID-19 with blood groups A and O in the Wuhan hospitals, there was no significant difference in the Shenzhen hospital.



No firm conclusion



To date, we don’t have robust scientific evidence to prove that our blood group has a direct relationship with COVID-19 infection. In this observational study, if they considered several other parameters, such as the previous history of other – specifically immune or respiratory-related – diseases, the conclusions might have been different. They have also not explained why they failed to see a significant difference between the blood groups in the Shenzhen hospital. And given COVID-19 is a pandemic, the sample size that they have analysed is not sufficient to draw firm conclusions.



We now need more detailed scientific research to establish the relationship between blood groups and COVID-19 and possibly other viral infections. In the meantime, people should continue to follow the advice provided by their healthcare professionals, government authorities and the WHO to avoid this infection and to control its spread, regardless of which blood group they have.
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Sakthivel Vaiyapuri, Associate Professor in Cardiovascular & Venom Pharmacology, University of Reading



This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
 

SuperScript29

Registered User
Nov 17, 2017
2,069
1,673
I found my blood type through 23andMe (It O+). I'm also assuming my wife is O+ because all of our kids are O+ (They tell you in the hospital when they're born), but it's also possible that she could be an A or B.

Anyways, I wouldn't put too much stock into this study.
 
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Djp

Registered User
Jul 28, 2012
23,825
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Alexandria, VA
I don’t think this is a valid finding.

There could be something underlying in this where those who are blood type A in China are more prevalent in certain ethnicities or peop,e from different parts of the country and thry care other traits that make them more at risk.
 

Name Nameless

Don't go more than 10 seconds back on challenges
Apr 12, 2017
6,548
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The numbers seems to indicate it.

For me, this looks a little like a "so what" situation. It's not only the As who get it, they (or we, if I'm an A) just have a somewhat higher probability.
 

JacketsFanWest

Registered User
Jun 14, 2005
5,020
1,182
Los Angeles, CA
It's possible that blood type could be related to COVID-19 symptoms based on this new research which shows how the virus attacks hemoglobin:

COVID-19: Attacks the 1-Beta Chain of Hemoglobin and Captures the Porphyrin to Inhibit Human Heme Metabolism

But from reading online about hemoglobin and blood type, I don't see anything that would indicate that the hemoglobin is different for Type A vs Type O.

Blood type is genetic and in China where people have lived in small villages for centuries and genes would be very similar, blood type could be the same for specific families or small areas which have the same genes associated with other risk factors like ACE2 enzymes, diabetes or heart disease. Or inherited diseases related to hemoglobin abnormalities like sickle cell.
 

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