Association of ABO blood group with susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection in Rupandehi district of Nepal

Sanyukta Gurung; Narayan Bahadur Mahotra; Lava Shrestha; Aakash Sherpali; Surya Prakash Joshi; Gambhir Shrestha; Shailesh Shrestha; Aman Shakya; Manoj Kandel

doi:10.1177/20503121221095413

Association of ABO blood group with susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection in Rupandehi district of Nepal

SAGE Open Med. 2022 Apr 28:10:20503121221095413. doi: 10.1177/20503121221095413. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Sanyukta Gurung¹, Narayan Bahadur Mahotra¹, Lava Shrestha¹, Aakash Sherpali², Surya Prakash Joshi², Gambhir Shrestha³, Shailesh Shrestha⁴, Aman Shakya¹, Manoj Kandel⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical Physiology, Maharajgunj Medical Campus, Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.
² Maharajgunj Medical Campus, Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.
³ Department of Community Medicine, Maharajgunj Medical Campus, Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.
⁴ Department of Clinical Psychology, Tri-Chandra College, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.
⁵ Department of Biomedical Engineering and Environmental Science, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu.

Abstract

Objectives: Recent studies after the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 have shown an association of the ABO blood group to the susceptibility of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection. Anti-A and anti-B antibodies, carbohydrate clustering, interleukin-6 levels and host transmembrane protease serine subtype 2 were suggested to cause the variable susceptibility of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection to the ABO blood groups. This study aims to find the association of the ABO blood group with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection susceptibility in Nepal.

Methods: Population-based matched case-control study was conducted from October 2021 to February 2022 in Rupandehi district of Nepal. A total of 1091 reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 cases and 2182 controls were included in the study by convenient sampling method.

Results: A statistically significant association of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection was observed for the blood group AB between cases and controls (11.5% vs 8.5%; odds ratio = 1.4, 95% confidence interval = 1.10-1.78). However, there was no association of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection for blood group A (26.7% vs 28.23%; odds ratio = 0.93, 95% confidence interval = 0.79-1.09), B (26.9% vs 29.84%; odds ratio = 0.86, 95% confidence interval = 0.73-1.02) and O (34.9% vs 33.41%; odds ratio = 1.07, 95% confidence interval = 0.92-1.25).

Conclusion: This study reported slightly more susceptibility to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection among individuals with blood group AB.

Keywords: ABO blood group; coronavirus disease 2019; disease susceptibility; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.