PREVALENCE OF BLOOD GROUP ANTIGENS OTHER THAN ABO-RhD IN HEALTHY BLOOD DONORS AT A TERTIARY CARE CENTER IN WESTERN RAJASTHAN, INDIA

Abstract

Introduction: It is important to know the frequencies of the various antigens to predict the availability of blood units for alloimmunized patients. Because of the fact that there is always a chance of diversity in phenotype pattern of a donor population, we decided to conduct a study on antigen phenotyping of regular blood donors.

Methodology: This blood bank based cross-sectional analytical study was carried out amongst 500 voluntary blood donors over a period of 8 months, i.e., from April, 2019 to November, 2019. Samples from all these donors were subjected to extended phenotyping (C, c, E, e, K, M, N, S, Jka, Jkb, Fya, Fyb, Lea and Leb).

Results: In present study, we observed the percentage frequencies of C, c, E, e, K, M, N, S, P1, Lea, Leb, Jka, Jkb, Fya and Fyb antigens as 75.6%, 53.2%, 18.4%, 97.75%, 3.8%, 82.4%, 58.4%, 43.8%, 66.2%, 16.8%, 52.6%, 80.0%, 67.6%, 79.4% and 54.6% respectively. Conclusion: Outcomes of such studies can be used to formulate a rare blood group donor registry and compatible blood can be provided to the patients (especially those requiring multiple transfusions).

Keywords: Antigens, Phenotyping, Blood donors.