ABO blood type is associated with ovarian reserve in Chinese women with subfertility

// Liangshan Mu 1,* , Wumin Jin 1,* , Haiyan Yang 1 , Xia Chen 1 , Jiexue Pan 1 , Jia Lin 1 , Peiyu Wang 1 and Xuefeng Huang 1 1 Reproductive Medicine Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, People’s Republic of China * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Xuefeng Huang, email: // Keywords : blood type; FSH; infertility; ovarian reserve; Pathology Section Received : February 27, 2016 Accepted : July 09, 2016 Published : July 22, 2016 Abstract Ovarian reserve reflects both the quantity and quality of oocytes available for procreation, and is affected by many known and unknown factors. ABO blood type is related to a number of infertility processes, but it is unclear whether and how ABO blood type affects ovarian reserve. Here, we explored the relationship between ABO blood type and ovarian reserve in Chinese women with subfertility. Day-3 serum follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) levels and blood type were examined in 14,875 women who underwent IVF or ICSI treatment. Blood type proportions in the patient population were as follows: 30.98% type A, 24.54% type B, 7.57% type AB, and 36.91% type O. A higher percentage of women with diminished ovarian reserve (DOR) were blood type O, while a lower percentage had the B antigen (B and AB). Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that blood type O was associated with a greater risk of DOR than blood type B and B antigen-positive types. By contrast, the B antigen (B and AB) was associated with a lower incidence of DOR than blood type O. These results suggest that blood type O is a risk factor for DOR while the B antigen (blood type B or AB) is a protective factor for ovarian reserve in Chinese women with subfertility. Further studies are needed to confirm this effect and identify the underlying mechanisms.