ABO AND Rh BLOOD GROUPS POLYMORPHISM AMONG THE KURDS OF DUHOK, IRAQ

Abstract

ABSTRACTBackground and Objectives: ABO and Rhesus blood groups distribution had been studiedextensively among different populations, however no data are available from Kurdish peopleliving in Duhok, Iraq, thus this study has been conducted to determine the distribution ofABO 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 98188donors who attended blood bank in Duhok in a period extending from January 2005 toDecember 2013 as well as prospective determination of ABO and Rhesus blood grouping of1000 individuals attending Azadi teaching hospital for various reasons. Blood grouping wasperformed 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%) amongrandomly selected individuals in comparison to donors whose most frequent blood group wasO (42.79 %). Regarding Rhesus system among the random group, the majority were positivefor Rh(D) (91.1%), Rh(e) (95.57%), Rh (C) (75.86%) and Rh(c) (67.98%), while smallproportion were positive for Rh (E) antigens (25.12%).Frequencies of Rhesus genotypes revealed that the commonest presumed Rhesus genotypewas R1R1 followed by R1r and R1R2, while rr was the most common presumed Rhesusgenotype among Rh(D) negative individuals.Conclusion: Blood group O donation is widely adopted in the region which contributed tohigher prevalence among blood donors and less frequent observation among randomlyselected patients. Regarding Rh antigens, blood antigens D,C,c,e were frequent antigenswhile E antigen was much less common.Furthermore, ABO and Rhesus (D) distribution appears to be similar to that of Kurdishpeople living in Turkey and Iran and was somewhat different from most neighboringpopulations including that of Iraqi Arabs.