ABSTRACT
Context: COVID-19 is an emerging infectious disease and blood group has an influence on the susceptibility of infectious diseases including COVID-19. Aim: The present study was conducted with the aim to observe the association of ABO blood groups with COVID-19. Setting and Design: A nonexperimental hospital-based case-control research design was adopted to conduct the study with 200 COVID-19 patients who met the inclusion criteria. Subjects and Methods: Informed consent was obtained from the participants after explained the purpose of the study. Data were collected by interview method using a structured questionnaire and medical record was also utilized to collect the data. The collected data were prepared for analysis using Microsoft Excel. Statistical Analysis Used: Both descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used to analyze the data using the software SPSS 16 version. Results: The results of the study revealed that out of 200 participants, 83 (42.5%) belonged to A+, 68 (33%) belonged to B+, 7 (14%) belonged to O+, 18 (9%) belonged to AB +, and 4 (%) belonged to A-blood group. Conclusion: The findings of the current study concluded that the prevalence rate of COVID-19 was higher among non-O blood group than in the O blood group and the blood group is associated with the severity of illness. Despite further studies on the individuals with confirmed exposure to COVID-19 infection should be conducted with large samples to generalize the findings. © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.