Gene Frequencies of ABO/RH (D) Blood Groups and Risk of Hepatitis BVirus Infection among Students of a Tertiary Institution in North-West Nigeria

Abstract

Blood types have been linked with increased resistance or susceptibility to disease and infections. Data on the incidence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and its relation to frequency of ABO/Rh (D) alleles in North-West Nigeria is lacking. This study therefore aims to evaluate the gene frequencies of ABO/RH (D) blood groups and their association with the risk of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection among students of a tertiary institution in North-West Nigeria. The cross-sectional study randomly recruited eighty (80) consenting volunteers from the same class for demographic data, ABO/RH (D) blood typing and HBV surface antigen evaluation. The Hardy-Weinberg equation was used to analyze the genotypic frequencies of the blood group alleles. Phenotypic pattern of ABO blood groups
observed was O>B>A>AB in both males and females. Majority of the participants (86%) were Rh (D) positive with a higher proportion of females having Rh D negative phenotype. The frequencies of the A, B, O and D alleles were found to be 0.14, 0.18 and 0.68 and D= 0.64 and d= 0.36 respectively. The distributions were not significantly different (P>0.05) from that expected in the Hardy-Weinberg principle. Furthermore, the prevalence of HBV infection among the students was 3.75% with no association between risk of infection and the most frequent ABO genotype; OO observed (p>0.05, OR: 0.44; CI; 95% 0.53, 5.05).Conclusively, we observed a high frequency of OO and DD/Dd ABO/RH blood group genotypes. However, they were not associated with increased risk of hepatitis B virus infection
among the students.