ABO AND RHESUS BLOOD GROUP DISTRIBUTION IN RESIDENTS OF KARACHI.

BACKGROUND: Blood transfusion till recently was a life threatening procedure until the discovery of ABO blood groups. Today committee of League of Nations has recommended A, B, AB & O classification for general use. This study was aimed to determine the frequency of ABO and Rh blood groups in residents of Karachi, so that necessary measures should be taken to maintain the blood product inventory. METHODS: A study was conducted at Dr. Ziauddin Hospital Clifton laboratory Karachi, Pakistan over a period of 07 months from 1st June- 31st Dec 2016. Healthy blood donors and patients requiring blood products of different age groups were included. After an informed consent, blood grouping was performed by taking blood samples under aseptic measures in EDTA and Gel separating serum tubes for ABO & Rh blood grouping by tube method. RESULTS: A total of 1583 individuals presented during the study period with 868 (54.8%) males and 715(45.2%) females. Blood group O+ve was found to be more common (31.9%) followed by B+ve (31.2%). In Rh system, Rh+ve (97.2%) were more common than Rh negative (2.8%) blood groups. CONCLUSION: This study was carried out to maintain the blood product inventory concerning the management of blood bank and transfusion services for the patient.