Analysis of ABO grouping discrepancies among patients from a tertiary hospital in Korea

• Published in: Transfusion and apheresis science 2021-12, Vol.60 (6), p.103230-103230, Article 103230
• Main Authors: Heo, Won Young, Chung, Yoo Na, Kim, Tae Yeul, Yu, HongBi, Bae, Jae Chun, Kim, Hyungsuk, Cho, Duck
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ABO Blood-Group System - blood; ABO discrepancy; ABO subgroup; Blood Grouping and Crossmatching - methods; Cis-AB; Female; Humans; Incidence; Male; Republic of Korea; Retrospective Studies; Tertiary Care Centers; Transplantation
• ISSN: 1473-0502; 1878-1683
• DOI: 10.1016/j.transci.2021.103230

•ABO discrepancy is more frequently discovered in patients than in blood donors.•ABO subgroup is a major reason for weak/missing red cell reactivity.•The cis-AB phenotype is one of the major causes of ABO discrepancy in Koreans.•Hematopoietic transplantation is a major reason for mixed-field red cell reactivity.•Weak/missing serum reactivity is the highest cause of ABO discrepancy in patients. Accurate ABO typing is essential for preventing ABO incompatibility reactions. However, the causes of ABO grouping discrepancy has not been sufficiently studied, and it may vary among different ethnic populations. Thus, the aim of this retrospective study was to investigate the causes of ABO discrepancy in the East Asian population. A retrospective observational study on ABO typing discrepancy among patients in a tertiary hospital was carried out using the electronic medical record database of Samsung Medical Center (Seoul, Korea) between July 2016 and May 2019. ABO grouping was performed on 551,959 blood samples during the study period; 1468 events of serologic ABO discrepancy were determined from 1334 (0.24 %) samples. A total of 134 samples (0.02 %) presented multiple causes of ABO discrepancy. Weak/missing serum reactivity (594, 40.5 %) was the most frequent reason for ABO discrepancy, followed by extra serum reactivity (370, 25.2 %), weak/missing red cell reactivity (267, 18.2 %), mixed-field red cell reactivity (176, 12.0 %), and extra red cell reactivity (61, 4.2 %). In the category of weak/missing red cell reactivity, ABO subgroup was the most common reason, and using ABO genotyping, 26.2 % of the cases genotyped were found to be related to the cis-AB allele. Our results suggest that the incidence and cause of ABO typing discrepancies vary among institutes and ethnic groups. Our data helps to better understand and facilitate the resolution of ABO typing discrepancies in patients.