ABO and RH blood groups polymorphism among the Kurds of Duhok, Iraq

Abstract EN

Background and Objectives: ABO and Rhesus blood groups distribution had been studied extensively among different populations, however no data are available from Kurdish people living in Duhok, Iraq, thus this study has been conducted to determine the distribution of ABO and Rhesus blood groups phenotypes among Kurdish people living in Duhok, Iraq.

Methods: The study included revision of ABO and Rhesus (D) blood grouping data of 98188 donors who attended blood bank in Duhok in a period extending from January 2005 to December 2013 as well as prospective determination of ABO and Rhesus blood grouping of 1000 individuals attending Azadi teaching hospital for various reasons.

Blood grouping was performed by standard tube method.

Results: In relevance to ABO blood group antigens, blood group A was the most common (39.9%), followed by O (36.9%), then B (15.8%) and finally blood group AB (7.4%) among randomly selected individuals in comparison to donors whose most frequent blood group was O (42.79 %).

Regarding Rhesus system among the random group, the majority were positive for Rh(D) (91.1%), Rh(e) (95.57%), Rh (C) (75.86%) and Rh(c) (67.98%), while small proportion were positive for Rh (E) antigens (25.12%).

Frequencies of Rhesus genotypes revealed that the commonest presumed Rhesus genotype was R1R1 followed by R1r and R1R2, while rr was the most common presumed Rhesus genotype among Rh(D) negative individuals.

Conclusion: Blood group O donation is widely adopted in the region which contributed to higher prevalence among blood donors and less frequent observation among randomly selected patients.

Regarding Rh antigens, blood antigens D,C,c,e were frequent antigens while E antigen was much less common.

Furthermore, ABO and Rhesus (D) distribution appears to be similar to that of Kurdish people living in Turkey and Iran and was somewhat different from most neighboring populations including that of Iraqi Arabs.