Prevalence and Specificity of Red Blood Cell Alloantibodies in Patients from China During 1994-2013.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the data about red blood cell alloantibodies in patients from mainland China and to provide evidence for formulating a management guideline.

METHODS: The Chinese and English literatures about Chinese patients in mainland China published in periodicals were retrieved by CHKD, CNKI, CMJD and PubMed using the key words as unexpected antibody, irregular antibody, blood group antibody, hemolytic transfusion reaction (HTR), hemolytic disease of the newborn (HDN), hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN).

RESULTS: A total of 5582 red blood cell alloantibodies were retrieved from 4800 patients. The average prevalence of alloantibody in 89 retrospective analysis reports was 0.34 %. Among all study patients, the 10 most common antibodies were anti-E (33.9%), anti-D (18.3%), anti-c (10.9%), anti-M (9.9%), anti-C (8.1%), anti-e (4.8%), anti-Le(a) (3.4%), anti-P1 (2.0%), anti-Mur (1.6%), and anti-Jk(a) (1.2%). Out of all 136 patients with HTR, the most frequentl alloantibodies were Rhesus antibodies (71.7%), and other antibodies included anti-Jk(b) (5.9%), anti-Le(a) (5.1%), anti-Jk(a) (3.7%), anti-M (1.5%), and anti-Mur (1.5%). A total of 644 alloantibodies contributing to HDFN come primarily from the Rhesus (93.1%) and MNS (6.0%) blood group systems.

CONCLUSION: The postnatal Rh prophylaxis should become a routine procedure in mainland China. The use of blood matched for C, E, c, e, Jk(a) and Jk(b) should be recommended for Chinese patients with a history of multiple transfusions. Patients with MNS alloantibodies should be given sufficient attention, and Mur+ red blood cells should be included in antibody screening panels.