Prevalence of ABO and Rh blood groups and their association with demographic and anthropometric factors in an Iranian population: MASHAD study

Background Blood groups appear to be markers for various human diseases and their distribution among different communities, ethnic groups and geographical boundaries varies over time. Aims We aimed to investigate the frequency of ABO and Rh blood groups and their relationship with demographic and anthropometric characteristics among Iranian residents in Mashad. Methods ABO and Rh blood groups were determined among 7268 participants from the MASHAD cohort study and their relationships with demographic and anthropometric parameters were evaluated. This part of the study was done in January 2017. Student t-test, ANOVA, Bonferroni' and Chi-squared were used for comparison of quantitative and qualitative variables. Results The most common blood group was O (33.8%); AB was the least common (8.3%). The prevalence of Rh-positive and Rh-negative was 88.2% and 11.8% respectively. There were statistically significant associations between ABO blood groups and demi-span (P = 0.03), even after correction for multiple comparisons. Conclusion Our findings showed there was no relationship between ABO blood groups and demographic characteristics although there was an association with anthropometric measurements such as demi-span.