O Group is a protective factor for COVID19 in Basque population

ABO blood groups have been related to COVID19 infection. ABO blood groups are slightly differently distributed in the populations and therefore these results should be replicated in the specific areas with a proper control population. In this work, we present data from 412 COVID19 patients and 17796 blood donors from Gipuzkoa, a region in Northern Spain. Our data shows the importance of group O as a protective factor.

COVID-19 in Spain: age, Interleukin-6, C Reactive Protein and lymphocytes as key clues from a multicentre retrospective study

BackgroundSARS-CoV-2 infection has widely spread to the hugest public health challenge to date, COVID-19 pandemic. Different fatality rates among countries are probably due to non-standardized records being carried out by local health authorities. Spanish case-fatality rate is 11.94%, far higher to those reported in Asia or by other European countries. A multicenter retrospective study was performed of demographic, clinical, laboratory and immunological features of 574 Spanish COVID-19 hospitalized patients and their outcomes. The use of use of renin-angiotensin system blockers was also analyzed as a risk factor. ResultsIn this study, 27.7% of cases presented a mild curse, 42% a moderate one and for 30.3% of cases, the course was severe. Ages ranged from 18 to 98 (average 63.2). Fifty eight percent (58.9%) of patients were male. Interleukin 6 was higher as severity increased. On the other hand, CD8 lymphocyte count was significantly lower as severity grew and subpopulations CD4, CD8, CD19 and NK showed concordant lowering trends. Severity-related natural killer percent descents were evidenced just within aged cases. A significant severity-related decrease of CD4 lymphocytes was found in males. The use of renin-angiotensin system blockers was associated with moderate or mild disease courses. ConclusionsAge and age-related comorbidities, such as dyslipidaemia, hypertension or diabetes, determined more frequent severe forms of the disease in this study than in previous literature cohorts. Our cases are older than those so far reported and clinical course of the disease is found to be impaired by age. Immunosenescence might be therefore a suitable explanation for immune system effectors severity-related hampering. Adaptive immunity would go exhausted and a huge ineffective and almost deleterious innate response would account for COVID-19 severity. Renin-angiotensin system blockers treatment in hypertensive patients has a protective effect as regarding COVID-19 severity.