EVALUATION OF BLOOD DONOR DEFERRAL IN A BLOOD CENTRE OF A TEACHING HOSPITAL, NORTHEAST INDIA

Abstract

Introduction: One of the important goals of a blood centre is to maintain safe blood supply while maximizing the potential blood donors to donate blood. Donor deferral has a negative impact on donor retention and recruitment. Therefore, due care should be given during donor selection to avoid false deferral. Material & Methods: This cross-sectional study included all the potential blood donors who registered for donation in the Blood Centre of a teaching hospital, Northeast India, between November, 2020 and October, 2022. The prevalence, pattern and leading causes of deferral were evaluated. Results: Out of 20,137 prospective blood donors, 3779 were deferred due to various reasons. The prevalence of deferral was 18.77%. Temporary deferral accounted 87.25% of all deferrals. Physical and physiological conditions were the commonest reason (1768) for deferral followed by medical and surgical conditions (1061). The common causes of deferrals were hypertension (20.83%), medications (19.58%), poor sleep (14.45%), alcoholism (7.75%), TTI risk (6.62%) and anaemia (5.74%). Conclusion: The process of donor deferral should not be an element of discouragement for future donations of temporarily deferred donors. Pre-donation information in various forms can help in reducing deferrals due to factors that are modiable by the prospective donors. More precise donor selection criteria may reduce the subjective variations of donor interviewers.