The Role of ABO Blood Groups in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Prediction

This study aimed to evaluate the ABO blood group characteristics in women with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM).

This cross-sectional research was conducted on pregnant women with GDM in Yas Hospital, Tehran, Iran, from April 2018 to March 2019. 

Totally, 449 pregnant women enrolled in the study. The average age of the participants was 32.26±5.08 years with a range between 18 and 45 years. 46% of the participants were treated with insulin. In this study, 35% were typed as group O, 34.3% as group A, 24.3% as group B, and 6.5% as group AB. The Rh+ blood antigen was present in 92% of the pregnant women. Blood group A (35.7%) was the highest in pregnant women with insulin therapy and the frequency of blood group O was the highest in pregnant women with diet (39.5%) and metformin therapy (35.7%). 

In pregnant women with insulin therapy, the most prevalent blood group was A. This was different from those that are frequent in the Iranian normal population and pregnant women with GDM who underwent diet therapy. It seems that blood group A, as a probable associated factor for GDM, can be beneficial in high-risk pregnancy detection for GDM in the Iranian population.