title: Low prevalence of IgA deficiency in north Indian population.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  IgA deficient patients are at risk of severe anaphylactic reaction on being transfused blood and blood products, and its prevalence varies in different parts of the world. No data are available from India. We did a blood donor survey to look for prevalence of IgA deficiency in north India.
  
  
  METHODS
  A sensitive enzyme linked immunosorbent assay developed in-house was used to detect IgA deficiency in a total of 3818 blood donors. Complete IgA deficiency was defined as value less than 5 mg/dl whereas partial IgA deficiency was defined as value between 5-30 mg/dl.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 3818 blood donors screened, 3640 (95.3%) were males with a mean age of 31.2 yr. No donor was found to have complete IgA deficiency; however, 257 (6.7%) had partial IgA deficiency.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study shows that IgA deficiency is rare in north India.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, India.
authors.forename: Shelly
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chandran
authors.forename: Dheeraj
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Khetan
authors.forename: Rajendra
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chaudhary
authors.forename: Ramnath
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Misra
authors.forename: Amita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aggarwal
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000707:Anaphylaxis / Q000209:etiology; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood; D001782:Blood Donors; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017098:IgA Deficiency / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology; D007070:Immunoglobulin A / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D065227:Transfusion Reaction
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D007070:Immunoglobulin A