Home › Biomarkers › Blood group and Rhesus
38.2% of people in the Netherlands have blood group O positive. Next comes A positive, at 36.6%.[1]
On this page you can read what blood group and Rhesus are, what the guidelines say about a value that is too low or too high, what affects your value and which values are best to look at alongside it.
Also known as: blood typing, ABO blood group, Rhesus D blood group, RhD. At the lab: BGD.
Blood groups are structures on the outside of your red blood cells. They are proteins or sugars, and they are not the same in everyone.[1]
The ABO blood group depends on a sugar structure. One gives you blood group A, the other blood group B. If you have both, you have AB. If both are missing, you have O.[1]
The Rhesus factor is now called the Rhesus D blood group, or RhD for short. If it sits on your red blood cells, you are RhD positive. If it is missing, you are RhD negative. If you have A and RhD, you are A positive.[1]
There are hundreds of different blood groups. For a blood transfusion, the ABO blood group and Rhesus D matter most.[1]
Not every patient can receive blood from every donor. If you receive blood with a marker you do not have yourself, your body sees those red blood cells as intruders. The donor blood is then broken down, and that immune reaction puts the body in danger.[1]
If you have blood group A, you have antibodies against B, and the other way round. With blood group O you have antibodies against A and B. With AB you have no antibodies against these blood groups at all.[1]
The lab, Labplusarts, gives no numerical limit for blood group and Rhesus. It is a qualitative test. Where the lab does give limits, it calls a value between those limits normal.[2]
| Reference value | What it can mean | Who it is for |
|---|---|---|
| No numerical limit[2] | Qualitative test: the lab gives your blood group and Rhesus, not a number with limits | BGD test at Labplusarts |
Source: Labplusarts, reference value for blood group and Rhesus (BGD).[2]
Blood group and Rhesus have no value that is too low or too high. Your result is a blood group, A, B, AB or O, with RhD positive or negative. That gives you one of the 8 blood groups that matter most for blood transfusion.[1]
BioProfile is working on its own zones for each value, from risk to optimal. A doctor reviews those zones before they appear in your result.
Your ABO blood group is set by which sugar structure sits on your red blood cells. A, B, both or neither gives A, B, AB or O.[1]
Whether you are positive or negative depends on whether the Rhesus D blood group sits on your red blood cells.[1]
Your antibodies are linked to your blood group. That is why they attack donor blood with a marker you do not have yourself, such as blood group B blood in someone with blood group A.[1]
Blood group and Rhesus is included in BioProfile 150.[3]
The BioProfile editorial team wrote this page on 10 October 2026 from the sources below, which we read on 10 October 2026. Every number on this page appears in one of those sources, with that source's number next to it. An expert has yet to check this page; after that check, the expert's name and the date of the check will appear at the top. This page offers explanation, not a diagnosis. Discuss a value outside the range with your GP.
