CLINICAL PRESENTATION OF COVID-19 AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH BLOOD GROUPS AND GENDER AMONG MEDICAL STUDENTS DURING DIFFERENT WAVES OF PANDEMIC

Abstract

Background: Covid-19 is a heterogenous viral disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2), surfaced in December 2019 and enveloped the whole world since then. It affects people of all ages with wide range of symptoms. Inconsistent relationship between Covid-19 with ABO/Rh blood groups and female gender has been reported so far.

Objectives: To determine clinical presentation of Covid-19 and its association with blood groups and gender among medical students during different waves of pandemic.

Methods: This retrospective observational study was conducted at Rashid Latif Medical Complex Lahore from May-2023 to August-2023. The study included volunteer students from the medical, dental, and physiotherapy departments, aged 16–26 years. Participants were divided into two groups: those previously diagnosed with Covid-19 who had successfully recovered (Covid-positive group) and those without a history of Covid-19 infection (Covid-negative group). Mean ± SD were given for quantitative variables and frequencies and percentages for non-quantitative variables. The association between susceptibility of Covid 19 infection with ABO/Rh blood groups and gender was determined by Chi square test and odds ratio which was reported with 95% confidence intervals. The p-value < 0.05 was considered as significant. 

Results: Out of total 428 students, 99 (23%) experienced Covid-19-like symptoms and 56 confirmed positive by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test (RT-PCR) out of them were selected. Median age of the infected individuals was 21 years (20.00-21.25) and 61.4% were females and 38.6 % were males.  Common symptoms were cough and fever, flu, headache, sore throat, and smell & taste. Symptoms of majority of Covid-19 infected individuals i.e. of 73% subjects lasted less than 10 days. Only 6.8% of the Covid-19 infected subjects were hospitalized.  Higher frequencies of blood group A and AB were found in Covid-positive group in comparison to Covid-negative but Chi square test showed no significant association between Covid-19 disease susceptibility and ABO/Rh blood groups.

Conclusion: Young individuals were primarily affected in the second and third waves of the Covid-19 pandemic, experienced short duration of infection and rapid recovery. Blood groups and gender are not found related with the risk of getting Covid-19 infection.