ABO blood group as a biomarker of preeclampsia among antenatal clinic attendees in Nigeria

Background: The clinical application of the ABO blood group is not limited to transfusion medicine but extends to other aspects of medicine. Its impact on preeclampsia is controversial. Aim: To determine the association of ABO blood group type with preeclampsia. Subjects and Methods: This was a cross-sectional analytical study of 66 women with preeclampsia and 81 apparently healthy women controls carried out in a tertiary health institution. The case and control groups were consecutively recruited during antenatal clinic visits and matched for age, parity, and gestational age. Data on demographics and the ABO blood group of the two groups of individuals were obtained. The analysis was both descriptive and inferential using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 21 (Chicago Il, USA). A P value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The mean age of the participants was 30.6 (4.9), 95% CI: 27.76-33.95. The majority of the women were <= 40 years (98.5%) and multigravidae constituted 81.8%. Forty-six (69.7%) women with preeclampsia had blood group O and 20 (30.3%) had a non-O blood group. Forty-nine (60.5%) of the controls had blood group O and 32 (39.5%) had a non-O blood group. The observed difference was not statistically significant (OR 1.50; 95% CI: 0.75-3.0; P = 0.26). The odds ratio for developing preeclampsia was 0.83 (95% CI: 0.37-1.91; P = 0.67) for the primigravidae. The non-O blood groups were more likely to present with symptoms than the O group (P < 0.01). Twenty-six (39.4%) women with preeclampsia had a mild disease while 40 (60.6%) had severe disease. Conclusion: Women with non-O blood groups are not at increased risk of developing preeclampsia but are more likely to be symptomatic than the O group.