Frequency of ABO-Rhesus Blood Groups in the Western Region of Saudi Arabia

Citation Alzahrani FM, Shaikh SS, and Rasheed MA. Frequency of ABO-rhesus blood groups in the western region of Saudi Arabia. JKAU Med Sci 2018; 25 (1): 9-13. DOI: 10.4197/Med. 25.1.2 Abstract The western region of Saudi Arabia is known as a multinational region with diff erent ethnic groups of people. This study aims to evaluate the ABO and rhesus blood groups among study subjects in the Western area of Saudi Arabia and their comparison with other regions of the Kingdom. It is a retrospective study. 35,388 participants were included. ABO blood grouping was done using tube method. Agglutination in any tube or hemolysis was considered as positive. Blood grouping was done by a preliminary fi nger prick, and was repeated again and a serum sample was obtained at the time of donation. Statistical Package for Social Sciences software was used for the data analysis. Results showed that the most common blood group is O, (50.1%) followed by A (29.7%), B (16%) and less frequent is AB (4.1%). Rhesus positive were 91.3%, while rhesus negative were 8.63%. These results demonstrate that the most common blood group in the Western province is O. Blood group A was noticed to be less frequent. Understanding the frequencies of the blood groups and their phenotypes is crucial for blood banking and for setting transfusion service protocols.