Irregular-antibody screening in 29, 236 patients from Shandong region and clinical impact on blood transfusion

We retrospectively analyzed 29, 236 patients (12, 864 men and 16, 372 women) who received blood transfusions between August 2008 and July 2010 at Qilu Hospital. We screened the irregular antibodies in blood-transfusion recipients by performing Coombs' test. We used the χ² test to measure statistical differences. Among the 29, 236 cases screened during the study period, 138 were positive for irregular antibodies (0.47%). The incidence of positive cases among women (0.57%) was significantly higher than that that among men (0.35%; χ² = 7.30, p <; 0.01). Among the16, 372 women screened in this study, 3, 227 were pregnant, and the percentage of positive cases among the pregnant women (0.96%) was higher than that among the nonpregnant women (0.47%; χ² = 10.97, p <; 0.01). The percentages of positive cases of irregular antibodies were slightly different across the different populations. Screening of irregular antibodies is critical for ensuring safe blood transfusion and reducing transfusion reactions in blood recipients.