Noorulain Thebo.
ABO Blood Group System and Covid-19 Susceptibility in Different Ethnic Groups of Medical Students in Karachi.
Ann Jinnah Sindh Med Uni Jan ;7(2):55-9.

Objectives: To determine the frequency of blood groups in different ethnicities among medical students of Karachi and the association of blood groups with Covid-19 susceptibility Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted among medical and dental students of Liaquat College of Medicine and Dentistry from January 1st to October 30th, 2019 after taking Institutional Review Boards approval. Data was collected from students 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 whom 89 (40.5%) were male. Their ages ranged from 17-22 years with mean age of 19.5+-2.39 years. Among 220 students, group B was the most common blood group, accounting for 77 (35%) participants. Screening, the most susceptible blood group for Covid 19 virus was found to be blood group B (61%). Conclusion: According to ethnicity, blood group B was the most common group in Punjabi and Urdu speaking populations while among Sindhis, A and O were the prevalent groups. The Rh positive group was found to be more susceptible to Covid-19 virus and blood type B+ was revealed to be in higher association with it. Key Words: ABO blood group, Blood group, Covid-19, Ethnicity, Medical students

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com