The phenotypes and alleles frequencies of ABO blood groups in Western Uganda

ABO blood group system is one of the clinically significant blood classification systems that vary across populations. Knowledge of distribution of the ABO blood system can help us to predict herd immunity and transmissibility of a disease in a population. In Uganda, little was known about this system and no research had been carried out to elaborate on the distribution of the A, B, AB and O blood types. Therefore, a cross-sectional study was conducted among people ≥12 years attending Buhinga hospital in Western Uganda from April to June 2019 to determine the phenotypes and alleles frequencies of the A, B, AB and O blood groups. Participants were recruited by simple random sampling technique and demographic data was obtained. 379 venous blood samples were collected and tested for ABO sero-types. Phenotypic data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square test of association and Hardy-Weinberg law of computation. Frequencies of ABO phenotypes were in the following order; O (39.8%)>, A (39.6%) >, B (12.4%)> AB (8.2%). There was no significant difference in the A, B, AB and O phenotype frequencies between males and females (p-value= 0.91). Based on Hardy-Weinberg Law, frequencies of the A, B, O alleles were; 0.63 for the O allele, 0.27 allele for the A allele and 0.14 for the B allele. Predominance of blood group O is more likely to influence population immunity.