The Distribution of Blood Groups in Psychiatric Illness

Abstract

There is evidence that the susceptibility to certain diseases varies in people of different blood groups. Associations have been claimed to exist between the ABO blood groups and diseases such as duodenal ulcer, carcinoma of the stomach, pernicious anaemia, diabetes mellitus, and rheumatic fever. The most convincing evidence for an association between a blood group and a disease is that of the increased frequency of group O in patients with duodenal ulcer (Aird et al., 1954), and also an increased frequency of non-secretion in the same disorder (Clarke et al., 1956).