The distribution of the ABO blood groups among the diabetes mellitus patients in Qatar

Background: There is strong evidence in the literature that there is an association between ABO blood group and certain diseases. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate any association between the ABO blood groups and diabetes mellitus (DM) in Qatar. Design: This was a sex-matched case-control study. Setting: This study was carried out in the diabetic outpatient clinics and blood bank of the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) from April 2011 to December 2012. Subjects and Methods: The study included 1633 diabetic patients and 1650 nondiabetic apparently healthy controls. A total of 2148 adult patients above 18 years of age were selected consecutively from the diabetic clinics of the hospitals and 1633 patients gave consent to take part in this study, thus giving a response rate of 76%. A total of 2150 nondiabetic healthy adults above 18 years of age were recruited from the blood bank and 1650 individuals agreed to take part in this study, giving a response rate of 76.7%. Blood group of the recruited subjects was taken from the database of the Blood Bank, Central laboratory, HMC. Results: The data revealed that the blood group B was significantly more common in diabetic patients as compared with healthy population (25.7% vs. 20.4%; P < 0.001). Blood group O was significantly less common in diabetic patients compared with nondiabetics (38.5% vs. 45.4%; P < 0.001). Among diabetic men, the frequency of only blood group B was significantly higher, while on the contrary among diabetic women the frequency of both A and B (29.7% vs. 24.8%; P = 0.03 and 25.5% vs. 20%; P < 0.009, respectively) were significantly higher as compared with nondiabetic healthy population. Conclusion: The findings in this study suggest that ABO antigens are associated with DM. DM is more common in individuals with blood group B.