ABO, Rhesus Blood Groups and Haemoglobin Genotype Pattern of the Undergraduate Students in Ekpoma, Nigeria

Introduction: Blood groups are types of inherited antigenic substances on the surface of red blood cells, other cell types, and body secretions that are coded by alleles at difference loci on a chromosome Aims: Knowledge of the distribution pattern of haemoglobin variants, ABO and Rhesus (Rh) blood group systems is of great importance in both clinical and epidemiological settings. This study was conducted to determine the ABO and Rhesus Blood groups and Genotypes pattern of the undergraduate students of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Nigeria. Methodology: A total of two thousand and four hundred apparently healthy students aged 17-34 years and of both sexes were recruited for this study. The ABO and Rhesus blood groups were determined manually using haemagglutination technique while the haemoglobin genotype was performed using the cellulose acetate alkaline haemoglobin electrophoresis technique. Results: In this study, blood group 0 ranked highest (61.3%) followed by group A (21.2%) and group B (14.7%) while group AB was the least (2.9%). Rhesus positive subjects accounted for 94.5% and the remainder (5.5%) was Rhesus negative. The ABO and Rhesus blood groups presented in the order of 0+>A+>B+>0->AB+>A->B->AB- with the respective frequencies of 58%, 20%, 13.8%, 3.3%, 2.5%, 1.2%, 0.8% and 0.1%. With respect to haemoglobin genotype, the ranking order was Hb AA>HbAS>HbAC>HbSS with respective frequencies of 78.6%, 20%, 0.3% and 0.25%. Conclusion: Statistically speaking, sex and age did not impact on the distribution of ABO and Rhesus blood group as well as haemoglobin genotypes in the study area. In conclusion, group O, Rhesus D positive and Hb AA are the most prevalent blood groups and haemoglobin genotype in the study area.