Abstract
An association between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the ABO blood group has been reported. However, such an association has not been studied in the Japanese population on a large scale. Little is known about the association between COVID-19 and ABO genotype. This study investigated the association between COVID-19 and ABO blood group/genotype in a large Japanese population. All Japanese patients diagnosed with COVID-19 were recruited through the Japan COVID-19 Task Force between February 2020 and October 2021. We conducted a retrospective cohort study involving 1790 Japanese COVID-19 patients whose DNA was used for a genome-wide association study. We compared the ABO blood group/genotype in a healthy population (n = 611, control) and COVID-19 patients and then analyzed their associations and clinical outcomes. Blood group A was significantly more prevalent (41.6% vs. 36.8%; P = 0.038), and group O was significantly less prevalent (26.2% vs. 30.8%; P = 0.028) in the COVID-19 group than in the control group. Moreover, genotype OO was significantly less common in the COVID-19 group. Furthermore, blood group AB was identified as an independent risk factor for most severe diseases compared with blood group O [aOR (95% CI) = 1.84 (1.00–3.37)]. In ABO genotype analysis, only genotype AB was an independent risk factor for most severe diseases compared with genotype OO. Blood group O is protective, whereas group A is associated with the risk of infection. Moreover, blood group AB is associated with the risk of the “most” severe disease.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all the participants involved in this study and all members of the Japan COVID-19 Task Force engaged in clinical and research work on COVID-19 daily. All the members contributed to this study.
Funding
This work was supported by the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (grant numbers JP20nk0101612, JP20fk0108415, JP21km0405211, JP21km0405217, and JP21wm0325031), the Core Research for Evolutionary Science and Technology (grant number JPMJCR20H2), the Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology (grant number JPMJPR21R7), and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (grant number 20CA2054).
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Conceptualization: T.K., S.C., H.N., T.A., K.M., H.K., M.I., N.H., and K.F. Data curation: T.K., H.T., H.L., S.O., K.N., T.F., A.M., and M.W. Formal analysis: T.K., S.C., and H.N. Methodology: T.K., S.C., and H.N. Supervision: T.K., S.C., N.H., T.A., K.M., H.K, M.I., N.H., N.H., T.U., S.U., T.I., K.A., F.S., T.Y., Y.N., Y.M., Y.S., R.E., K.M., Y.S., Y.O., R.K., Y.K., K.T., A.K., S.I., S.M., S.O., T.K., and K.F. Visualization: T.K., S.C., and H.N. Writing—original draft: T.K., S.C., and H.N. Writing—review and editing: T.K., S.C., N.H., T.A., K.M., H.K, M.I., N.H., N.H., T.U., S.U., T.I., K.A., F.S., T.Y., Y.N., Y.M., Y.S., R.E., K.M., Y.S., Y.O., R.K., Y.K., K.T., A.K., S.I., S.M., S.O., T.K., and K.F. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Kusumoto, T., Chubachi, S., Namkoong, H. et al. Association between ABO blood group/genotype and COVID-19 in a Japanese population. Ann Hematol 102, 3239–3249 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00277-023-05407-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00277-023-05407-y