Frequency of antigen Di(a) on the blood donor population of the Hemocenter coordinator of the Hemopa Foundation

INTRODUCTION: Erythrocyte phenotyping is a very important test in the adoption of prophylactic measures to reduce transfusion reactions/alloimmunizations in polytransfused patients. The blood group Diego, in its current, form has 22 antigens, of which 4 are immunogenic, being Diª/Di(b) and W(ra)/W(rb), while the others are less expressive. The antigen Diª is of low incidence among whites and blacks, however, it is common in the South American indigenous and Asian Mongolian populations. It is also considered a system of clinical importance for its immunogenicity. METHOD: The present study aimed to carry out a retrospective and descriptive survey of the frequency of the Diª antigen in the blood donor population at the HEMOPA Foundation Coordinating Blood Center from 12/2018 to 1/2000. The data obtained were from the HEMOPA Foundation SBS Progress and SBS WEB Systems databases. RESULTS: During this period, 941,744 blood bags were collected and, of these, 930 bags were phenotyped for the Diª antigen, of which 842 were negative and 88 (9.7%) positive. The research showed that, among the positive donors for the antigen Diª, 88.6% were brown, 3.4%, black and 8%, white. In the statistical analysis, the frequency observed was higher in browns. CONCLUSION: In the present investigation, we concluded that our region has a relatively higher frequency of the Diª antigen, when compared to the rest of Brazil, and it occurs more often in browns.