Journal of Ayurveda (Jan 2024)
Influence of season of birth on symptomatology of coronavirus disease 2019: An observational study based on ayurveda concept of immunity
Abstract
Introduction: Balavata Kala janm (~birth in a season when people naturally gain strength) is one of an individual's Bala (~strength) enhancing factors, according to Ayurveda. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) showed heterogeneous clinical manifestations in the global population, and the role of innate immunity in COVID-19 pathogenesis came up. The objective of this study was to see the association between the season of birth (SOB) and COVID-19 clinical manifestations. The association of ABO blood group systems was studied as a secondary objective. Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted from October 2020 to January 2021 at an Ayurveda research center in India. Confirmed patients of COVID-19 from 0 to 80 years of age group were telephonically contacted and interviewed through a structured questionnaire prepared in Google Forms after obtaining informed verbal consent. Based on the Ayurvedic concept of strength in Adana (~Northern solstice) and Visarga Kala (~Southern solstice), the categorization of participants according to their SOB was done. Results: The study included 402 participants and analyzed data through IBM SPSS. The odds ratio (OR) of COVID-19 clinical outcomes and SOB was analyzed using a multivariate logistic regression model to control confounding variables. Birth in the season of maximum strength was significantly associated with a lower percentage (22.1%) of symptomatic cases (crude OR = 0.54, 95% confidence intervals = 0.33–0.87). Maximum participants (55.1%) had B blood group, and the percentage of symptomatic participants was the highest among them, being 22.9%. However, this association was insignificant in the multivariate logistic regression model. Conclusion: Study outcomes indicate that SOB has a significant effect on COVID-19 clinical outcomes.
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