Prevalence of ABO blood groups in patients with haematological malignancies: a retrospective study

Abstract

Background: The pattern and distribution of Haematological malignancies vary depending on age, sex and geographical location. Studies on the association between Haematological cancers and ABO blood types have been largely conflicting. The objective of our study was to determine the distribution of ABO blood groups among patients with Haematological malignancies and to correlate with age and gender. Materials and Methods: This was a chart based observational descriptive study involving the review of records of 85 patients with various Haematological malignancies in Father Muller Medical College Hospital for a period of two years from July 2017- June 2019. Age, gender, malignant condition, ABO and Rh blood group were collected for each case. Data was analyzed statistically by frequency and percentage. Results: The peak age incidence for various Haematological malignancies was in the fifth and sixth decades of life with a mean age of 47.The male to female sex ratio was almost 1:1. Majority of the patients were of the O blood group and an association of O blood group with various hematological malignancies with male preponderance was noted. Altogether, Leukemias were the most common Haematological malignancy observed in this study. Conclusion: The distribution, age and sex ratio of Haematological malignancies in our study was comparable to those reported by other authors with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) being the most common Haematological malignancy in our environment. There was no significant association between Haematological cancers and ABO blood type of the patients, but probably individuals with O Rh positive blood group are more prone to