Association of microvascular complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus with ABO blood group

ABSTRACT

Background: Micro vascular complications are the major outcome of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus progression, which reduces the quality of life and increases diabetic morbidity & mortality. As the incidence of type 2 diabetes is growing day by day; our search for its aetiology and pathogenesis is also ever growing to predict its risk factors and early screening for better care and prevention of its complications. Many studies have tried to link susceptibility of type 2 diabetes with ABO blood group though results have been inconsistent. The present study aims to analyse association of micro vascular complication with different blood groups if any.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among patients of type 2 diabetes Mellitus in a tertiary care hospital. Determination of ABO and Rh status was done by standard slide method of agglutination. Detailed information about age, gender, BMI, duration of diabetes, age of onset of diabetes was noted with the help of a proforma. The records (clinical examination and investigations done by physician) were screened for type of micro vascular complications.Results: Out of a total of 319 patients suffering from type 2 diabetes, 209 subjects (65.15%) had one or the other complications. A statistically significant (p=0.00) difference was observed between the presence or absence of complications in different blood groups. In patients with Blood group B, 76.14% presented with complications. Though Nephropathy was the most common complication observed among different blood groups, none of the type of micro vascular complication was found to be significantly associated with different blood groups.Conclusions: The findings in our study suggest that although there was a significant association between presence or absence of complications and different blood groups, but this association was not significant for different types of complications.