Association of ABO blood groups with diabetes mellitus

OBJECTIVE: So far no studies have been performed in Malaysia to look at association of diabetes mellitus (DM) with blood groups. We studied the association of ABO blood groups with DM type 2. PATIENTS AND METHODOLOGY: It was a case control study conducted at Kepala Batas Hospital Batas, Penang, Malaysia in the year 2009, involving 70 patients with DM type 2 and 140 healthy controls. Ethical approval was obtained from Universiti Sains Malaysia. Blood samples were collected from the patients after consent. Samples were tested for ABO blood groups using ID-Card gel method. RESULTS: Chi-square test results showed that there was an association between the ABO blood groups and DM type 2. It was found that A and O blood groups were negatively associated with DM type 2 (P<0.05) with higher percentage of A and O groups individuals were non-diabetic. No significant association was noted between DM type 2 and blood groups B (P=0.423) and AB (P=0.095). It was also noted that B blood group was distributed with highest percentage among patients with DM type 2 (53.71%) compared to controls (22.52%), but no statistical significance achieved. CONCLUSION: The results obtained suggest that there was a negative association between ABO blood groups A and O with DM type 2, with A and O group having less chances of diabetes. Large studies in other ethnic groups are needed to confirm these results.