Introduction: High titres of naturally occurring (IgM) and immune (IgG) blood group antibodies in group O blood are attributed to acute transfusion reactions when this blood is transfused to non O recipients. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence, and titre levels of IgM and IgG anti-A& B antibodies among group O donors at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) Blood Transfusion Unit.

Method: It was a cross-sectional study involving 233 group O donors. A questionnaire was administered to capture demographics and other variables that are associated with high antibody titre. A 3ml donor blood was collected from each donor and processed to obtain plasma which was titrated using an immunohematology analyzer (Immucor Neo®).Descriptive statistics was performed on demographics, Chi-square and fisher exact  were used to assess association between high titre and these variables.

Results: The age of donor population ranged from 18-58 years with a mean of 29.3(SD ±8.7) years. Majority were male 183 (78.5%). The most common age group was 18-28 years constituting 122(52.4%)). Using a cut of ≥ 1:64, the prevalence of high titre among the group O donors was 75.5% irrespective of antibody class (IgG and IgM) and specificity (anti-A and anti-B). The percentage with   titre ≥ 1:64 for IgM anti-A was 36%, IgM anti-B 26.6%, IgG anti-A 48.1% and IgG anti-B 32.2%. Age, sex, previous history of transfusion, and pregnancy were not associated with high antibody titre. However higher antibody titre was detected among those who did not consume yoghurt (P=0.03).

Conclusion: The study sheds light on the importance of pre-transfusion ABO antibody titration at KNH.

Keywords:  High titre, anti A, anti B antibodies, group O donors, blood transfusion.

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Hashim Musa Haji

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