Association of ABO Blood Groups With Diabetes Mellitus And Ischemic Heart Disease In A Pakistani Population

Abstract

Objective: To The objective of this study was to find out the association of ABO blood groups with type 2 diabetes mellitus and ischemic heart disease (IHD) in a Pakistani population.
Methods: A total of 109 patients suffering from diabetes mellitus, 93 patients suffering from ischemic heart disease and 122 healthy controls were selected from both of these institutes. The patients were already diagnosed cases coming for follow up. Blood group of the subjects was either determined from clinical record data or at the Physiology laboratory of CIMS after taking blood samples. Chi-square test was applied to find out any association of ABO blood groups with IHD and DM type 2.
Results: The blood group O was significantly less common in patients suffering from diabetes mellitus than healthy controls (n=31, 28.4% vs. n=51, 41.8%, p=0.027). The blood group B was more common in diabetic patients as compared to healthy controls (n=55, 50.5% vs. n= 40, 32.8%) but this difference was not statistically significant (p=0.124). No statistically significant (p>0.05) association was found between ABO blood groups and IHD.
Conclusions: Blood group O is significantly negatively associated with DM type 2, while there is no significant association between ABO blood groups and IHD in the Pakistani population we studied.