Distribution of ABO blood groups in acute leukaemias and lymphomas

We studied the distribution of ABO blood groups in Hodgkin's lymphoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, acute myeloid leukaemia and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, in children up to the age of 12 years, in a hospital-based retrospective study. Blood group data were recorded from the case records of all the patients in a tertiary care centre with the diagnosis of Hodgkin's lymphoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, acute myeloid leukaemia and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, during the period 1987-1997. There were 63 Hodgkin's lymphoma, 78 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, 116 acute myeloid leukaemia and 522 acute lymphoblastic leukaemia patients. We assessed the distribution of ABO blood groups and the difference in the distribution from the source population. In Hodgkin's lymphoma, there were 45.6% [95% confidence interval (CI): 6.8-84.5] more patients with B blood group. In acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, there were 14.3% (95% CI: 3.2-25.2) more patients with O blood group. In Hodgkin's lymphoma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients, there were 56.5% (95% CI: 19.9-85.4) and 52.9% (95% CI: 18.1-82.6) less patients with A blood group, respectively. This shows that the relationship between the ABO blood groups and haematological malignancies merits further investigation in a population-based prospective study. This is the first study of its kind in any Indian population.