Distribution of ABO and Rh-D Blood Group Antigens Among Blood Donors in the Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

Background

The ABO and Rh blood group systems are the most commonly used blood group systems in clinical settings. They are clinically significant for blood transfusion, organ transplantation, genetic studies, forensic determinations, and medico-legal issues. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the distribution of ABO and Rh-D blood groups among blood donors in the Amhara regional state, Ethiopia.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted from March 2016 to September 2018 among blood donors in the four blood bank districts (Gondar, Bahir Dar, Debre Markos, and Dessie) of the Amhara regional state, Ethiopia. A total of 1040 blood donors aged from 18 years old to 60 years old were included using a simple random sampling technique. A structured questionnaire and a data collection sheet were used to obtain the socio-demographic data and blood group types of study participants. The ABO and Rh-D blood groups were typed using commercially prepared antisera after 1 mL of blood was taken from blood bags. The data was cleared by Epi-Info Version 7 and extracted into SPSS version 25 for analysis. The distribution of data was checked by using the Shapiro–Wilk test. Then, the data was presented in tables and figures.

Results

In this study, out of 1040 study participants, 55.6% were males with a median age of 20 years (IQR = 19–24 years). In this study, the distribution of ABO blood types O, A, B, and AB was 41.6% (433/1040), 28.7% (298/1040), 22.2% (229/1040), and 7.7% (80/1040), respectively. On the other hand, the Rh-D positivity was 92.5% (962/1040).

Conclusion

The overall predominant ABO blood group in the Amhara regional state was O (41.6%), and the least was AB (7.7%). Besides, the overall Rh-D negative blood distribution was 7.5%, which ranged from 4.46% to 9.6%. Therefore, this information would be useful to the blood banks, especially in the planning of blood transfusion programmers.

Keywords:

• ABO
• Rh-D
• blood group
• Amhara
• Ethiopia

Abbreviations

EDTA, ethylene di-amine tetra acetic acid; IQR, interquartile range; RBC, red blood cell; Rh, rhesus; UoG-CSH, University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital.

Data Sharing Statement

All data generated and/or analyzed in this study are available within the manuscript.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the study participants who participated in this study, and we would like to acknowledge the regional health office for providing the necessary information during the study.

Author Contributions

All authors made substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; took part in drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; agreed to submit it to the current journal; gave final approval of the version to be published, and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors declare that there is no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this manuscript.