Frequency and relationship of ABO blood groups in patients with nephrotic syndrome

Aim of the study: To investigate the frequency of ABO blood groups and the relationship between nephrotic syndrome (NS) and blood groups in patients with NS. Material and methods: 199 patients with a diagnosis of NS and 200 healthy individuals, who applied to Dicle University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Nephrology between 2016 and 2020, and whose blood group information was in the records, were included in the study as the control group. This study was carried out retrospectively using data from the file registration system in our hospital. Results: In the study, there were 199 patients: 52.8% (n = 105) male and 47.2% (n = 94) female and 200 healthy individuals: 47.5% male (n = 95) 52.5% female (n = 105). The mean age of the patients was 35.79 ± 12.21 (min-max: 17–71), and the mean proteinuria was 7.08 ± 4.33 (min-max: 3.50–25.50). There was no difference between sick and healthy individuals in terms of age or sex (p > 0.05). It was determined that 43.2% of the patients had blood group A, 26.1% blood group O, 25.1% blood group B, and 5.5% blood group AB. There was no significant difference between blood groups of patients with NS and individuals in the healthy group (p > 0.05). Membranous glomerulonephritis (MGN) (27.9%) was most common in blood group A; FSGS was detected most frequently in blood groups B (46.0%), O (28.8%), and AB (36.4%). The most common cause of NS was focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) in 31.2% (n = 62), and MGN was the second common cause in 19.1% (n = 38), blood group B (37.1%) in FSGS, blood group O (46.7%) in systemic lupus erythematosus, MGN (63.2%), IgA nephropathy (50%), and MPGN (52.2%) was found most frequently in blood group A. Conclusions: We did not find a significant relationship between the blood group and NS in our study.