Frequency of ABO and Rh blood groups in the Jazan region of Saudi Arabia

Objectives: among 30 blood group systems abo & rh blood groups are clinically significant. so they are called major blood groups. frequencies of abo blood groups and rh types show geographic variations. the objective of this study was to estimate frequencies of abo and rh blood groups in native saudi blood donors in jazan region. methodology: a total of 30481 healthy donors, donating blood for various reasons at blood bank department of king fahd central hospital in jazan from january 2002 to december 2008 were evaluated for the abo and rh blood groups. only saudi nationals were included in this study. results: out of 30481 donors, 18909 (62%) were group o, 8411(27.6%) were group a, 2662 (8.7%) were group b and 499 (1.7%) were group ab. rh+ were 28988 (95%) and 1493 (5%) were rh-. the results of this study were compared with results of the southwest and the eastern regions of saudi arabia. conclusion: this study confirmed that blood group o was the most common of the abo blood group system in the jazan region. ab blood group was quite rare and rh positive was more common than rh negative phenotype. significant differences were observed between the results of this study and the results of the southwest and the eastern regions of saudi arabia in the distribution of both abo groups and the rh phenotypes