Pediatric ABO blood groups and disease distribution: a retrospective analysis.
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BACKGROUND: Studies in adults have confirmed associations between ABO blood groups and diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and tumors. However, relevant research in children is lacking, and adult findings cannot be directly applied to children due to differences in disease spectra. Urgent research is needed to bridge this knowledge gap. Therefore, we conducted a retrospective study involving 36,285 children to investigate the relationship between ABO blood group and disease categories in children. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed clinical data from 36,285 Rh-positive children treated at the Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from January 2016 to March 2025. Data on sex, age, ABO blood group, and department of visit were collected. Diseases were categorized into 22 systemic diseases, including internal medicine and surgical conditions. Statistical analyses, including chi-square tests, network analysis, cluster analysis, and visualization tools (SPSS 26.0, R 4.2.3), were performed. RESULTS: Cluster analysis identified three characteristic groups: O blood type adolescents were prone to surgical diseases (enrichment +15.2%); AB blood type school-age/preschool girls were prone to various diseases (enrichment +22.6%); and A/B blood type young males were prone to burns, ear, nose, and throat (ENT), and hematological diseases (enrichment +18.3% and +16.9% respectively). CONCLUSIONS: ABO blood groups are specifically associated with the distribution of different systemic diseases in children. Multi-center validation studies are needed before widespread application.