Impact of ABO/Rhesus (D, C, c, E, e) blood type on development of vascular complications in type 2 diabetes

Abstract

Introduction: Many studies on type 2 diabetes had conflicting results about the prognostic importance of the ABO or Rhesus (Rh) D expression, and in this context, the other important types of Rh were never studied. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether ABO and Rh phenotype has an association with vascular complications in type 2 diabetes. Methods: 390 individuals were included in this study (194 were type 2 diabetic patients and 196 were healthy persons). 159 of diabetic patients were classified into two groups: group DC which included 98 diabetic patients with vascular complications, and group D which included 61 diabetic patients without vascular complications. A slide agglutination test was done to determine the ABO and Rh types. Results: While no difference was observed between the frequency of any ABO or Rh types between patients and healthy people, the frequency of A-type and each Rh+ type was higher in the DC group compared to the D group. In addition, the prevalence of the Rh DCceand Rh DcEphenotypes was higher in the DC group. Conclusion: Determining the phenotype of the Rhesus blood group may be a cheap and easy prognostic test for vascular complications development in type 2 diabetes.