ABO blood group system and Covid-19 susceptibility in different ethnic groups of medical students in Karachi

ABSTRACT

Objective: To determine the frequency of blood group in different ethnicity among medical students of Karachi and their association with the covid 19 susceptibility Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted among medical students of Liaquat College of medicine and dentistry from 1stJune to 30th November 2020. Data was collected from students which were of different ethnicities. Blood group was determined by mixing the blood with antisera and observing the agglutination by antigen and antibody reaction. Screening for covid 19 was carried out by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction real-time (RT-PCR) Result In our study, data was collected from 220 medical students, out of which 89(40.5%) were male and 131(59.5%) were female participants. Their age ranges from 17-22 years with mean age of 19.5+ 2.39 years. Among 220 students, group B was the most common group, accounting for 77 (35%). Upon screening the most susceptible blood group for Covid19 virus was Blood group B (61%) Conclusion: Our study concluded that according to ethnicity blood group B was the commonest group in Punjabi and Urdu speaking casts while in Sindhi blood group A and O being the prevalent group. The Rh positive groups found to be more susceptible for covid 19 virus and blood group B+ appears to be in higher association with it.