Association Between Blood Type Clinical Course and Sputum Microorganisms in Bronchiectasis

Introduction and aim: ABO blood groups are shown to be related with susceptibility to various infections. Bronchiectasis patients may suffer from frequent infections which may result in poor clinical course and outcome. Our aim was to evaluate the relationship between ABO blood group and clinical course and microorganisms grown in sputum in non-CF bronchiectasis adult patients. Material and method: Bronchiectasis patients followed between January 2016 and October 2024, microorganisms grown in sputum culture results were retrospectively evaluated.Demographic, clinical and laboratory data were extracted from hospital files. Patients were divided into four groups as O, A, B and AB blood group and compared in terms of clinical course (hospitalization and intensive care unit stay, presence and number of exacerbations and emergency visits, mortality) and sputum culture results. Results: A total of 102patients (51 males and 51females, 50%each) were included to the study. In 26 cases there was P.aeriginosa growth in sputum and 6 cases it was colonised. 25 (25,5%) patients were followed in ICU and 19(19,3%) patients were died. In all blood types investigated;all paarmeters were similar except median number of emergency visits /year was higher in B blood type(p=0,047). Discussion and conclusion: In the study, no difference was found between the blood groups in terms of the exacerbations, mortality rate and lung functions also growth of bacterial species in the sputum of adult patients with non cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis. However, emergency admissions due to lower respiratory tract infection were higher in the B blood group which suggested that the risk of infection may be higher in the B group. But due to the small number of cases, it was concluded that multicenter studies were needed to investigate the relationship between blood group and sputum growth and clinical course in bronchiectasis.