ABO Blood Groups and Gestational Diabetes among Pregnant Women Attending University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Kwara State, Nigeria

Introduction: The ABO blood group system is defined based on the presence of blood group antigens present on the cell membrane of erythrocytes. The blood group system is associated with some disease conditions and some epidemiological studies have demonstrated the linkage among the “ABO” blood group and the risk of diabetes mellitus (DM). This study aimed to find out the possible linkage between “ABO” and “Rhesus” blood groups with gestational induced Diabetes Mellitus (DM).

Methods: The study was carried out among the pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital. A total of 200 serially recruited pregnant women were screened for DM using fasting blood sugar (FBS), thereafter, the ABO and Rhesus group of the participants were determined using standard slide agglutination test. Data obtained were analyzed to determine any association between Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) and different ABO and Rhesus blood groups. The outcome was expressed as percent and absolute number of frequency. Results: Highest prevalence of gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) was observed among the individuals with O +ve blood group, followed by A +ve blood group. Both AB -ve and B-ve blood groups were not associated with incidence of GDM in this study. For the Rhesus blood group system, Rhesus positive had the highest percentage (94%) of GDM incidence.

Conclusion: Blood group might be a risk factor and it can be helpful for the evaluation of the disease, a study to investigate causal effect is advisable.