Prevalence of ABO Incompatibility and its effect on Neonates Hyperbilirubinemia

Introduction: Neonatal jaundice is one of the most common causes of fetus morbidity. It is a worldwide condition occurring in up to 80% of preterm and 60% of term neonate in first life’s week. maternal-fetal ABO incompatibility occurs when the fetus has blood group A or B And his mother has blood group O. Material and Methods: The data was collected from hospital case file after newborn examination by use questionnaire method on a sample size of 75 term neonates with jaundice. This study included neonate with hyerbilirubinemia needing phototherapy and/or exchange transfusion duo to maternal-fetal ABO incompatibility or other causes of neonatal jaundice. Results: In this study the neonatal jaundice was more common in male than in female. highly significant difference in gestational age, neonate age at admission, time of initiation of breast feeding, presence of hemolysis was presented among the study neonates. Highest percentage of study neonates had blood group O and A (41.3 and 34.7%) respectively while the lowest had blood group AB (1.3%). The ABO incompatibility reported with thirteen neonates (17.33%), neonates had blood group A and 6 neonates had blood group B. The present study showed that mean serum bilirubin and hemoglobin levels were close approximately for ABO compatible and incompatible neonates. Majority of study neonates needs the duration of phototherapy for =24 hours. Conclusion: This study revealed that the prevalence of neonatal ABO incompatibility was (17.33%), and there was no significant difference in mean of serum bilirubin and hemoglobin between the ABO compatible and incompatible neonates.