Effect of Abo Blood Group on Blood Pressure Indices among Apparently Healthy Young Adults of Yoruba Ethnicity in Ile-Ife

Abstract

Background: This study evaluated the effects of ABO blood groups on blood pressure indices. Materials and methods: Eighty apparently healthy young adults between the ages of 18 and 40 years were purposively selected for the study. Twenty participants of blood group AB were first identified through mass blood group screening process and 20 age and sex-matched participants each of the other three blood groups were also selected for the study. Two millilitres of venous blood was obtained from superficial cubital vein of each participant into a Sodium Ethylene Diamine Tetra-acetic Acid (EDTA) anticoagulant bottle for blood grouping following standard procedure using anti-sera A, B and AB. Blood pressure was measured in sitting position after 5 minutes of rest with digital sphygmomanometer (Omron) and the BP indices were derived from systolic, diastolic and pulse rate. Comparison of means of parameters among the four blood groups was done using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Duncan Post-hoc test. A p value of <0.05 was taken as statistically significant. Results: The highest mean systolic, diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, mean arterial blood pressure and rate pressure product were found in blood group O while the highest mean pulse pressure was found in blood group AB. The effects of ABO blood group on blood pressure and its indices were not statistically significant. This study showed that ABO blood group system does not significantly affect blood group indices.