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Maternal ABO blood group and adverse pregnancy outcomes in Japanese population

Journal of Perinatology volume 33, page 743 (2013)Cite this article

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We read with great interest the article by Phaloprakarn and Tangjitgamol1 reporting the association between maternal ABO blood group and the risk of preeclampsia. It is the first study to evaluate the impact of ABO blood types on maternal and neonatal outcomes in Asian population. The authors report a greater risk of preeclampsia in women with A or AB blood types in Thai population. However, some critical data such as intrauterine fetal death are missing.

Japan is an ethnically homogeneous nation located in the Far East of Asia. Table 1 shows the adverse singleton pregnancy outcomes of the four groups in Japanese women according to their blood phenotypes who managed at our hospital in Tokyo, Japan, beyond 22 weeks’ gestation between April 2008 and December 2012. The distribution of ABO phenotypes in the study population was as follows: O=30.0%, A=37.0%, B=23.6% and AB=9.4%. There were no significant differences in maternal age, parity or maternal body mass index at prepregnancy among women with four different blood types. In Japanese population, there was no significant association between maternal ABO blood group and the risk of preeclampsia or other maternal complications; however, the incidence of intrauterine fetal death in women with A, B or AB blood types was higher than that in women with O blood type (P<0.01). There have been some old pros and cons reports concerning the relationship between blood type and fetal death.2, 3 In an old study with the northern Japanese population,3 for example, the frequency of deaths for fetuses bearing the A gene (or genes) seemed to be lower than that for fetuses without it, which is contrary to the current result. Therefore, we also think that a further large research with various population groups is needed.

Table 1 Adverse singleton pregnancy outcomes of the four groups in Japanese women according to their blood phenotypes
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References

  1. Phaloprakarn C, Tangjitgamol S . Maternal ABO blood group and adverse pregnancy outcomes. J Perinatol 2013; 33: 107–111.

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  2. Cohen BH, Sayre JE . Further observations on the relationship of maternal ABO and Rh types to fetal death. Am J Hum Genet 1968; 20: 310–360.

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  3. Hiraizumi Y, Spradlin CT, Ito R, Anderson SA . Frequency of prenatal deaths and its relationship to the ABO blood groups in man. Am J Hum Genet 1973; 25: 362–371.

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  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Japanese Red Cross Katsushika Maternity Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

    Y Shibata-Hiraizumi & S Suzuki

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  1. Y Shibata-Hiraizumi
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  2. S Suzuki
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Correspondence to S Suzuki.

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Shibata-Hiraizumi, Y., Suzuki, S. Maternal ABO blood group and adverse pregnancy outcomes in Japanese population. J Perinatol 33, 743 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/jp.2013.81

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