Journal of Blood Medicine (Oct 2022)

Association of ABO and Rhesus Blood Types with Transfusion-Transmitted Infections (TTIs) Among Apparently Healthy Blood Donors at Bahir Dar Blood Bank, Bahir Dar, North West, Ethiopia: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study

  • Legese B,
  • Shiferaw M,
  • Tamir W,
  • Eyayu T,
  • Damtie S,
  • Berhan A,
  • Getie B,
  • Abebaw A,
  • Solomon Y

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 13
pp. 581 – 587

Abstract

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Biruk Legese,1 Mikru Shiferaw,2 Workineh Tamir,3 Tahir Eyayu,1 Shewaneh Damtie,1 Ayenew Berhan,1 Birhanu Getie,1 Aynework Abebaw,1 Yenealem Solomon1 1Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Debre Tabor University, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia; 2Bahir Dar Blood Bank Service, Amhara Regional State Health Bureau, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia; 3Department of Medical Laboratory, College of Health Sciences, Injibara University, Injibara, EthiopiaCorrespondence: Biruk Legese, Email [email protected]: Besides their clinical significance in blood transfusion medicine, ABO and Rh blood group antigens were found to be associated with many non-infectious and infectious diseases. This investigation aimed to assess the association of ABO and Rh blood group antigens with transfusion transmissible infections (TTIs).Methods and Materials: A cross-sectional retrospective investigation was conducted on 27,027 blood donors at Bahir Dar blood bank, from March 24/2019 to October 21/2021. The blood sample was collected from each blood donor and tested for TTI markers (HBV, HCV, HIV, and syphilis), with ELISA, and ABO and Rh blood grouping was performed. Descriptive analysis was done for sociodemographic data, and a chi-square test was used to show the association between the ABO and Rh blood groups with TTI markers, and a P-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: From 27,027 study participants, 18,911 (70%) were males, with a mean age of 25.2 years, and 49.4% of the blood donors were students. The overall TTI prevalence was 5.43%, of which 2.8% was HBV, 1.5% was syphilis, 0.8% was HIV, and 0.3% was HCV. Blood group O (41.4%) was the most common blood group followed by, A (29.6%), B (23.6%), and AB (5.4%). Ninety-one point seven percent of the blood donors were Rh (D) positive. All TTI markers (HBV: p = 0.62, HIV: p = 0.77, HCV: p = 0.52, and syphilis: p = 0. 0.94) showed no significant association with ABO blood group. Rh blood type also showed no association with all TTI markers.Conclusion: The prevalence of TTI markers was not significantly associated with ABO and Rh blood groups.Keywords: ABO and Rh blood groups, blood donors, transfusion transmissible infections

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