ABO blood groups and musculoskeletal injuries.

The distribution of the ABO blood groups was studied in 917 patients with specific musculoskeletal diagnoses. The ABO blood group distribution of patients with rupture of the Achilles tendon (P = 0.030) and of patients with chronic Achilles peritendinitis (P = 0.10) differed from the controls. The ABO blood group distribution was not associated with other musculoskeletal injuries studied. The blood group A/O ratio was 1.42 in the control population. In the group with rupture of the Achilles tendon this ratio was 1.0, and in the group with Achilles peritendinitis it was 0.70. The association between injuries of the Achilles tendon and the ABO blood group distribution was in accordance with an earlier report. There may be a genetic linkage between the ABO blood groups and the molecular structure of the tissue of Achilles tendons.