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Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the ongoing pandemic with multitude of manifestations and association of ABO blood group in South-East Asian population needs to be explored. Methods: It was a retrospective study of patients with COVID-19. Blood group A, B, O, and AB were identified in every participant, irrespective of their RH type and allotted groups 1, 2,3, and 4, respectively. Correlation between blood group and lab parameters was presented as histogram distributed among the four groups. Multivariate regression and logistic regression were used for inferential statistics. Results: The cohort included 1067 patients: 521 (48.8%) participants had blood group O as the prevalent blood type. Overall, 10.6% COVID-19-related mortality was observed at our center. Mortality was 13.9% in blood group A, 9.5% in group B, 10% in group C, and 10.2% in AB blood group (p = 0.412). IL-6 was elevated in blood group A (median [IQR]: 23.6 [17.5,43.8]), Procalcitonin in blood group B (median [IQR]: 0.54 [0.3,0.7]), D-dimers and CRP in group AB (median [IQR]: 21.5 [9,34]; 24 [9,49], respectively). Regarding severity of COVID-19 disease, no statistical difference was seen between the blood groups. Alteration of the acute phase reactants was not positively associated with any specific blood type. Conclusion: In conclusion, this investigation did not show significant association of blood groups with severity and of COVID-19 disease and COVID-19-associated mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine the frequency of Kell blood group antigens (K and k) in blood donors from northern Pakistan. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out at immunohaematology department of Armed Forces Institute of Transfusion (AFIT) Rawalpindi, Pakistan, from 1st Nov 2017 to 31st Dec 2017. Methodology: After approval of Ethical Committee of Armed Forces Institute of Transfusion (AFIT) Rawalpindi, the blood samples of 2000 blood donors were collected. Samples were selected by non-probability consecutive sampling technique. After preliminary blood grouping for ABO and Rh D, these samples were phenotyped for K (kelleher) and k (celleno) antigens. Typing was performed on Biorad® automated blood grouping system by column agglutination technique (CAT), strictly following manufacturer's instructions. Results: Out of 2000 blood donors, typed for K and k antigens, 1966 were males (98.30%) and 34 were females (1.70%). The frequency of K was 4.05% (81/2000) and that of k was 98.90% (1978/2000). The phenotype K-k+ (95.15%) was most prevalent followed by K+k+ (3.75%), K-k- (0.80%) and K+,k- (0.30%). Conclusion: K antigen frequency is lower than as reported in Caucasions and Saudi Arabia but higher than Indian and African blood donors. This study confirmed that the k (celleno) blood group antigen was highly prevalent antigen in Pakistani population while the K (kelleher) antigen was present in a relatively lower frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]