Prevalence of ABO blood group phenotypes and antibody titers of the blood donor population in and around Puducherry

Background: For any blood transfusion services, knowing the prevalence and distribution of blood groups in their corresponding geographical area is essential. Hence, this study was done to know the prevalence and distribution of the ABO blood group and the antibody titer levels of blood donors at a premier tertiary care center in Southern India. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study conducted over 22 months from September 2015 to June 2017 in the Department of Transfusion Medicine, JIPMER, Puducherry, among blood donors in a single tertiary care teaching hospital blood center. The ABO blood group and Rhesus factors (Rh) were determined by the antigen-antibody agglutination test by the test tube method. Titration of anti-A and anti-B antibodies was also done for selected “O” group donors by the doubling dilution technique in the tube method. Results: It was found that the most common blood group in our blood donor population was the “O” blood group with 11,904 (38.43%) followed by “B” 10,643 (34.37%), “A” 6,201 (20.02%), and “AB” 2,219 (7.17%). We had 4 Bombay blood group donors during the study period (0.01%). A titer of 1:32 was the most frequently encountered for IgM anti-A and anti-B antibodies; in Group “O” donors and IgG antibodies, it was 1:8. Conclusion: The prevalence of ABO in and around Puducherry is comparable to those published from other regions in Southern India, with the “O” group being the most common. The distribution of antibody titers for anti-A and anti-B is similar to other studies in India.