Association of ABO RH blood group with dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever: a case-control study

Abstract

Data on frequency distribu on of ABO Rh blood group in pediatric dengue pa ents are not available. Dengue disease an emerging arthropod borne infec on of public health concern belongs to Flaviviridae. The studies defi ning the rela onship between blood groups and dengue disease and its severity are limited. Blood group an gens are generally known to act as receptors for various e ological agents. Hence, we hypothesized there will be an associa on between blood group and dengue disease and its severity and conducted this case-control study. Study Design: Hospital-based case-control study. Materials and Methods: Study was conducted in department of pediatrics, 244 pediatric subjects (age group 1 - 13 years) were enrolled divided into cases who were admi ed cases of dengue (119, 65 males, 64 females) and controls who were a ending outpa ent department for various other ailments. (125, 67 males, 58 females) and demographic data (age, gender, blood group, and dengue infec on status) were collected from them. The risk of acquiring dengue disease and severity and its associa on with factors such as blood group, gender were analyzed sta s cally. Results: The data of this study showed a possible associa on between blood groups of the study popula on with dengue infec on. We observed that dengue infec ons were higher in individuals with O posi ve blood group 42.8% when compared with controls 32%. (P = 0.043) But blood groups were not associated with severity of infec on. These data present further evidence for the associa on of the blood groups, gender to suscep bility to dengue infec on. Further studies are needed to confi rm these fi ndings. Conclusion: Dengue disease is more common with blood group O. But severity of the disease is not associated with any blood groups.