A study to find out association between blood group and platelet count

Abstract

Background: Blood group antigens are protein structure on red blood cell membrane, and platelet has receptors on its surface for binding which are also protein in nature. Aims and Objectives: Thus, some genetic association for certain blood group types with platelet function and count can shade some light in this area of research. Materials and Methods: A total of 51 cases were included in the present study. All healthy male and female subjects above 18 years were included in our study. Prior Indian Ethics Committee approval was taken, and information sheet was provided about the present study and only when voluntary consent subjects’ 0.5 ml venous blood was collected aseptically. Basic information about name, age, and gender was collected. Platelet count was calculated using an autoanalyzer instrument. Data analysis was done using MedCalc v18.6 software. P < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Out of 51 cases the majority of subjects were A positive and B positive with 16 in each case. Highest platelet count was found in B positive blood group at 241562 ± 69970. Lowest platelet count was found in AB positive blood group at 216142 ± 51689. Conclusion: On applying single factor ANOVA for finding out the association between platelet count and blood group, P value was present at 0.934. As P value is >0.05, the present study concludes that there is no association between ABO type and platelet count. Other studies like Sweeney et al., show that platelet count of A blood group was similar to present study while for O blood group platelet count was higher than the present study. However, a further rigorous study involving von Willebrand factor and blood serotonin level can shade more light in this research area.