Abstract
BackgroundBlood transfusion is a life-saving intervention. However, the safety of the donor and the recipient is paramount. This study was aimed at determining the blood donation deferral pattern of University of Calabar Teaching Hospital.MethodsA retrospective analysis of the prospective donors’ data of University of Calabar Donor clinic within the period of March 2015 to February 2016 was conducted. Data were extracted from the donor register and analyzed. Prospective donors were screened and interviewed for causes of temporary and permanent deferrals.ResultOut of the 1886 screened prospective donors, 164 (8.69%) were deferred. Though the minority of the donor population, female donors had the highest deferral rate (33.33%). There were 31.10 and 68.90% cases of temporary and permanent deferrals, respectively. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) was the highest (31.71%) cause of overall deferral as well as permanent deferral. Anemia was the major (21.95%) cause of temporary deferral as well as the second cause of overall deferrals. Commercial and replacement donors constituted 68.28 and 31.71% of the deferral cases, respectively.ConclusionHBV was found to be the overall leading cause of deferral in the studied area. This outcome poses a public health concern and should elicit measures to curb the infection rate.
Highlights
Among the 1886 prospective donors who presented themselves within the study period, a total of 164 of the prospective donors were deferred giving a deferral rate of 8.69%
The differences in the deferral rates is probably due to differences in the donor selection criteria used in the different studies; lack of scientific and accurate cut-off of hemoglobin, lack of compulsory blood screening for TTls, donation intervals, high risk sexual activities and Causes of deferral
The present study has shown that transfusion transmissible infections (TTIs) constituted much (78.05%) of the deferral cases
Summary
Despite the life-saving role of blood transfusion, the role of blood transfusion services is to ensure adequate availability of safe blood via donors that are in good health [3, 4]. Adequate supply of blood is paramount in blood transfusion practice, the caveat is to ensure the collection and transfusion protocol do not endanger both the recipient and the donor [3]. This is actualized by deriving donor deferral criteria [5], strict adherence to screening of prospective donors for transfusion transmissible infections [6, 7] and other risk behaviors.
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