Prevalence of hemoglobinopathy, ABO and rhesus blood groups in rural areas of West Bengal, India

BACKGROUND: Hemoglobinopathies are a group of inherited disorders of hemoglobin synthesis. It could be formed a fatal scenario in concern of lacking of actual information. Beside this, ABO and Rh blood grouping are also important matter in transfusion and forensic medicine and to reduce new born hemolytic disease (NHD). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The spectrum and prevalence of various hemoglobinopathies, ABO and rhesus (Rh) blood groups was screened among patients who visited B.S. Medical College and Hospital, Bankura, West Bengal, India. This study was carried out on 958 patients of different ages ranging from child to adults from January to June 2011. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), complete blood count (CBC) and hemagglutination technique were performed for the assessment of abnormal hemoglobin variants, ABO and Rh blood groups, respectively. RESULTS: Results from this study had been shown that there was high prevalence of hemoglobinpathies (27.35%) where β-thalassemia in heterozygous state occurred more frequent than other hemoglobinopathies. Out of 958 patients, 72.65% were HbAA and 27.35% were hemoglobinopathies individuals where 17.64% β-thalassemia heterozygous, 2.92% β-thalassemia homozygous, 3.86% HbAE, 1.15% HbAS trait, 1.25% HbE-β thalassemia trait and 0.52% HbS-β thalassemia trait were found. No incidence of HbSS, HbSC, HbCC, HbD and other variants of hemoglobinpathies were observed. The gene frequencies with respect to ABO systems had been shown as O > B > A > AB. Blood group O was the highest (35.8%) and the least percentage distribution was blood group AB (6.68%). Rhesus positive (Rh+) were 97.7%, while the remaining was 2.3% Rhesus negative (Rh-). The frequencies of A(+), B(+), AB(+,) and O(+) blood groups were 22.44%, 33.61%, 6.58%, and 35.07%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Remarkable percentages of hemoglobinopathies were prevalent from the present study. An extensive screening of the population is needed to assess the prevalence of hemoglobinopathies, which will help in identification of carriers of hemoglobinopathies and further it will be of assistance in taking adequate therapeutic and preventive measures.