Gender-based variations in academic performance of MBBS students of different blood groups

Abstract

Background: Blood group has been observed to associate differentially with personality and character traits, emotional intelligence and occurrence as well as pathogenesis of various diseases. Academic performance remains one of the important tools to determine intelligence of students, but in contrast, there are only few studies, which have correlated blood group and academic performance, and results of these studies are also of no consolidated opinion. Aims and Objectives: This study was aimed to compare academic performance of medical students of different blood groups and gender wise academic performance of students of different blood groups. Materials and Methods: A total of 285 students of two consecutive batches of MBBS 1st year were recruited in the study. Blood group of each student was determined by slide method and marks obtained in the first professional MBBS examination were tabulated. Difference in academic performance was statistically tested by one-way ANOVA and independent sample t-test. Results: There was no significant difference among four blood groups in terms of marks obtained (P = 0.705), though “O” blood group student achieved highest marks. Gender-specific analysis shows female students scored higher marks as compared to males (P = 0.001) and “AB” positive Students were highest scorer overall (P = 0.017). Conclusion: Blood group may be one of the determinants of academic achievement and gender-dependent differences in academics may have blood group-based variations among medical students, although further studies need to be done to substantiate this.