SERUM IRON AND TOTAL IRON BINDING CAPACITY LEVELS AMONG THE ABO BLOOD GROUPS IN ENUGU, SOUTH EASTERN NIGERIA.

Iron deficiency anaemia is a common tropical disease. Iron plays a very important role in the human body. The understanding of the different blood groups ability to retain iron in their system can give an insight into their ability to handle the disease Iron deficiency anaemia. Serum Iron, Total Iron Binding Capacity (TIBC) and Percentage Transferrin Saturation (%TS) levels were studied in 2260 apparently healthy Nigerian volunteers in Enugu, Eastern Nigeria. The ABO blood groups of the subjects were also determined. They were aged between 10 and 25 years, males were 1808 and females 452 (M/F ratio- 8:2).In all the results obtained, the females had lower values. Serum iron (micromol/L) was highest in the group A (26.3 ± 7.2 - males, 18.7 ± 5.2 -females) and lowest in group 0 (22.0 ± 4.7 males, 15.6 ±4.5 - females). Groups B and AB had values of 23.0 ±5.2 (males) 16.3 ±3.2 (females) and 23.3 ± 3.8 (males), 16.5 ± 6.8 (females) respectively. The TIBC value (micromol/L) was highest in group A (60.2 ± 9.0 - males, 42.7 ± 6.0 - females) and lowest in group 0 (51.8 0 ± 14.2 - males, 36.8 ± 12.2 - females), while the values for groups B and AB were 54.7 ±7.5 (males), 38.8 ±2.5 (females) and 54.4 ±4.8 (males), 38.6 ± 3.8 (females) respectively. The percent TS was highest in the group A (43.7 ±2.0 -males, 31.0 ±1.0 -females) and lowest in those of B (42.0 ±1.4 -males, 29 ±0.4 females) while groups AB and 0 had values of 42.8 ±1.0 (males), 30.4 ±3.0 (females) and 42.5 ±1.9 (males), 30.2 ±4.8 (females) respectively. There were significant differences between the intra group comparisons of the results of groups A and O only in the serum iron and TIBC parameters. No significant differences were observed in the percentage TS among the different blood groups. The values obtained for the percentage distribution of the different blood groups agrees with already established values for the population. Since the values obtained for the parameters studied all fall within the normal range, this work provides useful data on the environment of South Eastern Nigeria