Spectrum of Abo and Rh Blood Group in Nepali Medical Students

Abstract

Background: ABO and Rh systems are most important types of blood group systems that should be taken into consideration during blood transfusion. Many studies have been done across the globe to determine the distribution of these blood groups among different strata of population. But there are very few studies done in Nepali population. Therefore, in this study we aimed to find out the distribution of blood groups among Nepali medical students and to compare it with the other studies done in Nepal and other countries of the World.
 Methods: This was a retrospective study, containing the data of ABO and Rh blood groups of medi­cal students recorded over a period of 21 years in Department of Physiology of Universal College of Medical Sciences, Bhairahawa, Nepal. The blood group was determined by open slide test method by using commercially available standard monoclonal antibody.
 Results: A total of 2031 Nepali medical students were included in the study. Among them 1147 were male and 884 were female. In the present study we found that the most common blood group was O (739, 36.4%) followed by B (624, 30.7%) and A (522, 25.7%) and least common blood group was AB (146, 7.2%). Among all participants 96.8% of the people were Rh positive and 3.2% were Rh negative.
 Conclusions: This study done in Nepali medical students can provide a new insight for the further study of distribution of blood groups in Nepali population. A study with high sample size, repre­senting every zones of Nepal is the demand of future.

Pattern of ABO and Rh Blood Groups among Voluntary Blood Donors at Nepal Red Cross Society Central Blood Transfusion Service Centre, Kalimati, Kathmandu

“…In their study, 1,147 were male and 884 were female and the most common blood group was O (739, 36.4%) followed by B (624, 30.7%) and A (522, 25.7%) and the least common blood group was AB (146, 7.2%). Among all participants, as reported by Joshi et al, 18 96.8% of the people were Rh-positive and 3.2% were Rh-negative which was similar to our findings. Shrestha et al 17 conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study from 1st January 2011 to 31st December 2011, in Kathmandu among 13,568 students which revealed that frequencies of Rh-positive and Rh-negative blood groups were found to be 13,200 (97.3%) and 368 (2.7%) which is similar to our study.…”

“…In the present study, we found that O positive was the most prevalent. This finding was silmilar to the finding of Joshi et al 18 done in Chitwan Medical College in 2,031 students. In their study, 1,147 were male and 884 were female and the most common blood group was O (739, 36.4%) followed by B (624, 30.7%) and A (522, 25.7%) and the least common blood group was AB (146, 7.2%).…”