A One Year Cross-Sectional Study To Determine The Prevalence Of Red Cell Alloimmunization Among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Clinic At Teaching Hospital Attached To KAHER, Belagavi

Abstract

BACKGROUD AND OBJECTIVES Hemolytic disease of fetus and newborn results from alloimmunization due to exposure of RBCs antibodies during pregnancy as these antibodies may cross the placenta. Routine antibody screening is advicable in all pregnant women irrespective of their Rh status, to detect all the antibodies which are responsible for HDFN. In developing countries like India there is limited data available on prevalence of RBCs antibodies in pregnant women therefore present study was conducted to know the prevalence of RBCs alloimmunization in pregnant women and their associated maternal and fetal outcomes. METHODOLOGY – A one year prospective study was conducted in the department of Obstetrics and Gyanecology at KLE’s Dr Prabhakar Kore Charitable Hospital and Medical Research center Belagavi from January 2018 to December 2018. RESULT There was 1597 pregnant women enrolled in the study. The prevalence of irregular antibodies was 1.3% of pregnant women who attended the antenatal care. The prevalence of antibodies in Rh negative women was 0.75% while in Rh positive women was 0.56% CONCLUSION The prevalence of RBCS antibody was 1.3% was similar to other studies. Anti-D still was the most common antibody identified in the present study. Other non anti-D antibodies detected were anti-Kell, Anti-C ,E , anti-Lea, anti-Duffy in the present study. In developing countries like India, universal antenatal antibody screening , though desirable may not be justified at present as the cost and infrastructure required would be immense. However , it is necessary to impose properly formulated protocols to screen at least the pregnant women with adverse obstetric history.