ABO Blood Group and Prevalence of Osteoporosis and Osteopenia in the Elderly Population: An Amirkola Health and Ageing Project (AHAP)-Based Study

Abstract

Osteoporosis is known as a degenerative disease of the skeletal system and its main complication is fracture, which influences quality of life in the elderly. There are 4 major blood groups in humans based on the presence of A and B antigens. According to the investigations, there are reported relations between blood types and some diseases. In this study, the association between the ABO blood group and the prevalence of osteoporosis and osteopenia in an elderly population was investigated. Medical records of 990 elderly people were investigated in a cross-sectional study and the association between their blood group and the incidence of osteoporosis and osteopenia was analyzed using SPSS version 17.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). The results showed that ABO blood groups had no association with the prevalence of osteoporosis in both elderly men and women. The association between age and osteoporosis was significant and the association between this disorder and gender was significant too. The results also indicate that there is no association between RH+ and RH- blood types and osteoporosis and osteopenia in both men and women. Based on this finding, it would be reasonable to conduct extensive studies.