ABO blood group and risk of newly diagnosed nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: A case-control study in Han Chinese population

BACKGROUND: ABO blood group has been associated with cardiovascular disease and cancer. However, whether ABO blood group is associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) remains unknown. The present study aimed to clarify this issue. METHODS: A hospital-based case-control study was performed in southwestern China. A total of 583 newly ultrasound-diagnosed NAFLD cases and 2068 controls were included. The adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of developing NAFLD were calculated by multivariate logistic regression. A propensity score was developed for adjustment and matching. RESULTS: The proportions of blood groups A, B, AB and O were 31%, 26%, 8% and 35%, respectively. Non-O blood groups were found to be significantly associated with an increased risk of NAFLD (the fully adjusted OR = 1.51, 95% CI: 1.19, 1.91); moreover, compared with blood group O, the fully adjusted ORs of developing NAFLD were 1.50 (95% CI: 1.13, 1.99) for blood group A, 1.59 (95% CI: 1.19, 2.14) for blood group B, and 1.37 (95% CI: 0.86, 2.18) for blood group AB. Similar results were obtained in both propensity-score-adjusted and propensity-score-matched analyses. No evidence of significant effect modification for the association of ABO blood group with the risk of NAFLD was found (all P(interaction)>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Non-O blood groups are significantly associated with an increased risk of NAFLD. Our findings provide some epidemiological evidence for a possible role of ABO glycosyltransferase in the pathogenesis of NAFLD. However, these findings need to be validated by future studies.