Do blood groups play a role in etiology of rosacea?

The pathogenesis of rosacea is not fully understood. The innate immune system is impaired in patients with rosacea. This leads to abnormal inflammatory cytokine release. It has been proposed that the molecular mechanism for the role of the ABO antigenic system in human diseases may arise from its relationship with the von Willebrand factor and several pro-inflammatory and adhesion molecules. To our knowledge, the relationship between ABO-Rh groups and rosacea has not been investigated previously.

One hundred and fourteen patients with rosacea and 258 healthy individuals who had blood group record were included in this study. The results were analyzed statistically.

In terms of ABO blood groups, 54 (47.4%) patients had A, 14 (12.3%) patients had B, 7 (6.1%) patients had AB, and 39 (34.2%) patients had O blood groups in the patient group. In the control group, 109 (42.2%) individuals had A, 45 (17.5%) individuals had B, 29 (11.2%) individuals had AB, and 75 (29.1%) individuals had O blood group. There was no significant difference between the groups (P > .05). In terms of Rh groups, 103 (90.4%) patients were Rh (+) and 11 (9.6%) patients were Rh (-). In the control group, 220 (85.3%) individuals were Rh (+) and 38 (14.7%) were Rh (-). There was no significant difference between the groups (P > .05).

We did not find a relationship between blood groups and rosacea. But, we think this is an interesting hypothesis. To clarify this possible relationship, comprehensive and further studies are needed in different races and geographic regions.