Search

Introduction: Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrhea in children. There is only a few clinical studies about the relationship between rotavirus gastroenteritis and ABO blood groups., Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the role of blood groups, if any present, in the incidence of rotavirus gastroenteritis, and the severity of the gastroenteritis., Methods: The file records of babies born in our hospital and diagnosed with acute gastroenteritis in their follow up were investigated retrospectively., Results: The study was conducted with 219 (36.3%) rotavirus positive and 383 (63.6%) rotavirus negative patients. The A blood group was detected more commonly in the rotavirus positive group compared to the rotavirus negative group (50.6 vs. 42.2%, p= 0.047). Hospitalization rates of the cases with rotavirus gastroenteritis among children with the A blood group (30.6 vs. 8%, p= 0.001) were significantly higher., Conclusions: Rotavirus gastroenteritis was determined to be more common in children with A blood group. The hospitalization rates of such patients were detected to be higher. Therefore, rotavirus gastroenteritis among children with blood group A should be monitored closely.