Is there a relationship between rotavirus positive gastroenteritis and ABO blood groups?: a retrospective cohort study.

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.