There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.
Abstract
Understanding how ABO blood group interacts with Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum)
infection may facilitate development of antimalarial treatments and vaccines. This
study systematically summarizes information on the relationship of ABO blood group
with severe P. falciparum infection, level of parasitemia and haemoglobin. A total
of 1923 articles were retrieved from five databases. After removal of duplicates,
and two levels of screening, 21 articles were selected for inclusion in the meta-analysis.
A meta-analysis of the studies showed an increased odds of severe P. falciparum infection
among individuals with blood group A, B, AB or non-O compared with blood group O.
However, the difference in the level of P. falciparum parasitemia was not significant
among individuals with blood group A or non-O compared with blood group O. The difference
in haemoglobin level among P. falciparum infected individuals was also not significant
between those with blood group A, B or AB versus those with blood group O.