Alloantibodies, Anti-D, Childbearing age, Women, Cameroon

We conducted a cross sectional retrospective study to determine anti-D and D-negative phenotype rates among Cameroonian women of reproductive age (15 – 44 years), in order to evaluate the importance of D alloimmunization. Analysis of the haematology laboratory records from January 2006 to December 2007 harvested 225 results for red blood cell alloantibody screening and 2460 D phenotypes. Anti-D rate was found to be high at 4% and not linked to women’s parity. Three hundred and fifty two (14.3%) women were found to be D-negative. Anti-D rates significantly decreased with age from 18.8% among teenagers (15-19) to 7.8% among older women (35-44) (p = 0.001). The number of women submitted to both irregular antibody screening and type D phenotype determination was not strong enough (50) to analyse the link between anti-D rate and antigen D distribution in our study (Afr J Reprod Health 2009; 13[3]:47-52).