PATTERN AND DISTRIBUTION OF ABO AND RH (D) BLOOD GROUPS WITHIN PATERNAL AND MATERNAL FAMILY SUBSETS OF AN INDIVIDUAL: AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY

Recognition of blood group of an individual is of utmost importance even today for maintaining blood banking records and for safe transfusion practices. This observational study was carried out among the Paternal and Maternal family members of an individual to find out the percentage distribution of ABO and Rh (D) blood groups in them. The blood groups of seventy nine participants, between the age group of eight years and seventy nine years, from twenty five nuclear families were recorded. The collected data were analysed and results expressed in percentage. The data were also compared with the data obtained from earlier studies on percentage distribution of patterns of blood groups. The highest percentage frequency was observed for the blood group O (62%), followed by B (21.5%), A(12.7%) and the least percentage frequency was AB (3.8%).In the case of Rh (D) positive, the frequency observed was 96.1% and that for Rh (D) negative, it was 3.9%. The distribution of ABO and Rh (D) blood groups of this study showed similar trends with the published data from previous studies on blood group patterns