Determination of Relative Frequency of ABO/Rh Blood Groups in Patients with Bacteremia in Shahid Sadoughi Hospital, Yazd, Iran

Background As regards the role of genetics in susceptibility to various diseases and similarity of microorganisms’ superficial monosaccharide to blood group antigens, blood group antigens may be considered as a risk factor for bacteremia. The present study aimed to determine the association between ABO blood groups/Rh and bacteremia risk in our center. Methods This study is a cross-sectional research consisting of 100 patients with symptoms of bacteremia from March to December 2014. Blood group was determined through tubular method, Cell Type and Back Type. After getting the results, the statistical significance of differences between groups was estimated by Chi-Square Test and Z-test. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 22. Results Among 100 patients with bacteremia, 48 and 52 were male and female, respectively. The patients’ mean age was 44.34 ± 31.91 years. Enterobacteriaceae (58%) and Staphylococcus aureus (27%) were the most common causes of bacteremia among these patients. In this study, Blood group A was found in 31% of patients, B in 33%, AB in 12% and O in 24%. 91% of patients were Rh positive and 9% were negative. We compared the relative frequency of blood group O with A, B and AB groups (in comparison with normal population in Yazd) and the difference was significant (P value = 0.036). Conclusions Our results show that there is an association between blood group antigens and chance of developing bacteremia. Conducting other studies with greater sample size is essential.