Prevalence of high titered anti-A and anti-B antibodies among O blood group individuals and their associated factors

Background and Objectives: Severe hemolytic transfusion reactions due to minor incompatibility are usually associated with the so-called "High titred" antibodies in the plasma of donors especially the O group as it is generally regarded as universal donors. Critical titers of 1:64 or higher was considered high titered antibodies for IgM anti-A and anti-B. Critical titers of 1:256 or higher was considered high titered antibodies for IgG anti-A and anti-B. The objective of this study was to see the prevalence of such high titered antibodies among our donor population and to observe for an association if any with the age, gender, and diet type and probiotic intake of the donors. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional analytical study conducted over 20 months from September 2015 to May 2017. About 560 donors were chosen randomly after screening and counseling and titration of anti-A and anti-B antibodies was done by the double dilution tube agglutination technique. The information on age, gender, diet type, and probiotic intake was gathered from the donor history questionnaire and an association between the factors described and the distribution of critical titers of anti-A and anti-B was elicited. Results: In the present study, the prevalence of high titer anti-A and anti-B IgM antibodies was 36% and 32%, respectively. The prevalence of high titer anti-A and anti-B IgG antibodies was 9.6% and 5.5%, respectively. The median IgM antibody titers reduced with the increasing age of the donors starting 18 years. There was a statistically significant association between a vegetarian diet and high titers. Conclusion: There are a considerable proportion of O group donors with high titers of antibodies and hence a routine pretransfusion screening for such antibodies can prevent the development of hemolytic reactions by segregating units into "high titer" and "low titer" antibodies and issuing only low titer products for out of group transfusions.