LAUSR

BACKGROUND Screening of blood products is considered a mandatory protocol implemented in health care facilities in order to reduce the onset of transfusion-transmitted infections (TTIs). This study was aimed to determine the sero-prevalence of ABO and Rh blood groups and their associated TTIs among blood donors in the Central Region of Saudi Arabia. METHODS This was retrospective study performed on the blood donors' records from March 2017 to December 2018 at Buraidah Central Hospital Blood Bank. Study was conducted on a total of 4590 blood donors. ABO and Rh typing was performed.The blood samples were also screened serologically for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), anti-hepatitis B core total antibodies (anti-HBc total), hepatitis C virus (HCV), human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV), human T-lymphotrophic virus-1 (HTLV-1) and veneral disease research laboratory test(VDRL) for syphilis. RESULTS Out of 4590 blood donors, O positive blood group was found to be highest (42%), followed by A positive (23.4%), B positive (20.9%), O negative (5.45%), AB positive (3.4%), A negative (2.8%), B negative (2.1%) and AB negative (0.5%). Moreover, total number of Rh-negative donors was significantly lowered as compared with Rh-positive. Seroreactive tests were found to be positive in only 1.002% of all studied donors and mainly found in male donors. Among TTI, anti-HBc total was the highest (0.784%), followed by HBsAg, HCV, VDRL and TPHA. Whereas all tested donors were found to be negative for HIV infections. CONCLUSIONS The information collected for the frequency of ABO blood phenotypic groups has a vital significance in establishing a simple blood group database. This study clearly determined significantly lower rate of seropositive TTIs among the studied blood donors but still steps are needed to improve the knowledge and to prevent the seropositive occurrence of TTIs.