Study of distribution of principal rh bood group antigens and their phenotype in blood donors

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Blood transfusions are vital in healthcare, relying on the ABO and Rh blood group systems. Rh antigens are complex, with D being the most important. Rh negative individuals receiving Rh positive blood may develop antibodies causing adverse reactions. Blood group information is crucial for inventory management, legal matters, and genetics research. ABO and RhD are pivotal for pre-transfusion testing to prevent severe reactions, especially in patients receiving multiple transfusions. OBJECTIVES: To study the distribution of Rh antigens D, C, c, E, e among the donors attending blood centre of a tertiary health centre and to determine the prevalent phenotype based on the frequency of Rh antigens. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted at the blood center of our institute consisting of 382 donors. Samples were collected for traditional blood grouping and Rh typing. Conventional tube method was utilized for Rh D typing and to detect major Rh antigens by using specific monoclonal antisera. RESULTS: Among Rh antigens, e was the most common antigen, followed by D, C, c. DCCee was the most common phenotype, and the least common phenotype were DcCee, dCcee, dccEe, dcceE. In Rh positive donors, most common phenotype was found to be DCCee and in Rh negative donors most common phenotype was found to be dccee. CONCLUSION: In Blood transfusion, accurate population-based Rh antigen frequency data are crucial for clinical purposes. Before transfusion, antigenic phenotyping and antibody screening and identification are advised for multi-transfused patients and multipara women to avoid blood transfusion reactions.