Frequency of Rh-e Antigen and reference values of Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate, Red Cell Indices in an Undergraduate Students’ population in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Abstract

Introduction: Red cell antigens alongside red cell indices provide an essential support to the diagnosis and monitoring of haematological diseases  while the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) indicates and monitor an increase in inflammatory activity within the body. This study  aims to determine the frequency of Rh-e antigen and reference values of Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate, Red cell indices in an  undergraduate student’s population in the Rivers State, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

Material and Methods: One hundred and fifty (150) undergraduate students aged between 17-28years were enrolled in the study and standard venipuncture technique used to collect 5ml of blood. Determination of the Rh-e antigen was carried out using anti-e monoclonal antibodies (Lorne Diagnostics UK), Red cell indices obtained using BC 5000 Mindray Haematology Analyser and ESR by  Westergren method.

Results: Among the 150 subjects, 130 (86.6%) were positive while 20 (13.3%) were negative for Rh-e antigen. The  mean±SD of the mean cell volume (MCV), mean cell haemoglobin (MCH), mean cell haemoglobin concentration (MCHC), red cell  distribution width co-efficient of variation (RDW-CV), red cell distribution widthstandard deviation (RDW-SD) and erythrocyte  sedimentation rate (ESR) were 83.12 ± 10.74, 31.13 ± 3.25, 34.00 ± 3.32, 13.32 ± 1.61, 39.70 ± 2.26 and 30.36 ± 2.15 in the same order, while  the reference values were 61.64-104.6 for MCV, 24.63-37.63 for MCH, 27.36–40.64 for MCHC, 10.10–16.54 for RDW (CV), 35.18–44.22 for  RDW (SD) and 26.06-34.66 for ESR. Gender had no effect on MCV (p=0.3007) and MCHC (p=0.1436) but significant effect on MCH (p=0.030),  RDWCV (p<0.001), RDW-SD (p=0.0005) and ESR (p=0.036) with a perfect positive correlation (r=1) between all the studied  parameters.

Conclusion: This study revealed a high (86.6%) prevalence for Rh-e antigen, established normal reference ranges for red cell  indices and erythrocyte sedimentation rates and showed that gender has significant effects on MCH, RDW-CV, RDW-SD and ESR among  healthy undergraduate students of Rivers State University. These findings are of clinical and research relevance.