relationship between abo blood groups and seroprevalence of helicobacter pylori in young adults in tehran, iran

abstract the association between abo blood groups and helicobacter pylori seroprevalence is still controversial. we aimed to study the association between abo/rh antigens and igg seropositivity in an iranian adult population for the first time. blood samples of 300 healthy young adults aging 18-30 years were collected for h. pylori antibody detection and abo/rhesus blood group antigen typing. 51.2%, 49.5%, 52.5% and 60.0 % of cases with blood groups o, a, b and ab were seropositive, respectively. the frequency of seropositivity was not statistically different among the four blood groups (p=0.843). no association was found between seropositivity and either rh antigen (p=0.850) or gender (p=0.377). seropositive individuals were significantly older than seronegative ones (24.48±3.72 years vs. 23.25±3.88 years; p =0.006). there was a sharp increase in the prevalence of seropositivity in the 21-24 year age group compared to the 18-21 year age group and in the 27-30 year age group compared to 24-27 year age group. adults in iran seem to be more prone to new h. pylori infection in the beginning and the end of their twenties than the years in between.