COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF HAEMATOLOGICAL PARAMETERS AMONG INFREQUENT AND REGULAR REPEAT WHOLE BLOOD DONORS IN A TERTIARY CARE CENTRE-A PILOT STUDY

Blood transfusion service is a vital part of our health care system. Stringent blood donor screening and medical examination plays a vital role in maintaining the quality and safety of blood components. Voluntary non-remunerated blood donors form the backbone of blood transfusion services. However, regular donation by such voluntary donors may cause significant depletion of iron stores in the body. This has the potential to adversely affect the donor's health, and also to lower the quality of blood being collected subsequently. Even though a pre-donation hemoglobin estimation is routinely done in blood centres, it may fail to recognize subclinical iron store depletion. Testing Ferritin level of all donors is not cost effective and practical in resource limited centres. This study was aimed to identify any significant changes in hematological parameters over repeated blood donations, that may point towards a potential Iron deficiency in an otherwise healthy donor. This was a cross sectional study involving 138 whole blood donors who had attended the blood centre, Department of Transfusion Medicine, Government Medical college, Thiruvananthapuram. The study subjects were categorized into 2 groups based on the number of donations and a Complete blood count (CBC) was done for each group. Data was analyzed using SPSS software, quantitative variables expressed as Mean and Standard Deviation, p value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results were analysed by Independent Samples T test. Statistically significant variables were further analysed using Kruskal-Wallis test. Second time blood donors constituted major part of sample size (20/138). Mean Hemoglobin value showed no significant change among the two donor categories. Mean corpuscular volume (MCV) of repeat whole blood donors is significantly lower than infrequent donors independent samples T test, tvalue=3.309. (p-value=0.001). Donors were further subdivided into 5 groups in the order of increasing number of donations and significant difference was observed in MCV and proved by Kruskal-Wallis test(H=19.1344) As per our study, a significant reduction in MCV among repeat donors with a normal hemoglobin value compared to infrequent donors. This might point towards an impending Iron deficiency anemia in near future. A prompt detection of subclinical iron deficiency in voluntary blood donors is the need of the hour since it can cause adverse consequences in donor health and can considerably lower the donor availability as well. Blood centres should take measures like routine Iron stores evaluation of regular repeat donors, educating donors regarding the importance of maintaing a healthy diet, Iron tablet supplementation to prevent donor Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) etc.

Frequency of Transfusion transmissible infections in voluntary and family replacement donors at The Alotau Provincial Health Authority Blood Transfusion Service, Papua New Guinea

@#Transfusion Transmissible Infections (TTI) in blood donors continue to be a threat to recipients, therefore, to increase accessibility to infection-free donor blood, voluntary non-remunerated donation has been recommended. This was a retrospective observational study aimed at establishing a data base for transfusion transmissible infections in family replacement and voluntary donors at the Alotau Provincial Health Authority (PHA) Blood Bank Service using donor data recorded from 2015 to 2018. Statistical significance was determined using the chi-square test with p-values of <0.05 considered significant. Ethical clearance was approved by the School of Medicine and Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee. Consent to collect data from the Alotau PHA Blood Transfusion Service and the Blood Bank Laboratory was granted on the 17/06/2019 reference #: RCO1/6/19. A total of 2852 blood donors were analyzed, of which 90% (n=2567) were males and 10% (n=285) were females. Of these, 69% (n=1959) were Family-Replacement-Donors (FRDs) and 31% (n=893) were Voluntary Donors (VDs). Donations by FRDs increased with increasing years from 2015 to 2017 and declined slightly by 1% in 2018. The complete opposite was observed in VDs. TTIs were higher in FRDs than in VDs (20.1% vs 16.8%, p=0.04), in single infections, (18.6% vs 15.2%, p=0.03), infection with HBV (9.9% vs 7.2%, p=0.02), and in those aged over 45 years (2.7% vs 0.1%, p=<0.01). The differences were statistically significant. TTI was significantly higher in male FRDs than VDs (19.1 vs 14.3, p=0.00) and in females, it was significantly higher in VDs than in FRDs (2.5% vs 1.0%, p=0.00). TTIs were significantly high in older male FRDs which seem to indicate that the primary route of transmission in this setting could be mostly sexual. This calls for establishment of effective educational awareness about risk factors in the older population, and promotion of voluntary non-remunerated donations in this setting.

Using informational questionnaires to turn blood donors into hematopoietic stem cell voluntary donors: a randomized controlled trial / 中国输血杂志

【Objective】 To explore effective ways to mobilize more blood donors to become voluntary donors of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), so as to increase the HSCs supply in China. 【Methods】 Two scales(the information scale and the control scale) with the same items were designed and both included questions concerning the knowledge of HSCs donation and the level of demand. The information scale indicated the correct answer to these questions, while the control scale did not. A total of 3 000 blood donors in Guangzhou were randomly assigned into the intervention group (n=1 500, filled in the information scale) and the control group (n=1 500, filled in the control scale). 【Results】 Blood donors who filled in the informational scale expressed a higher intention to become HSCs volunteers (MInformation =4.32, SD=0.87; MControl=4.02, SD=0.93, t(529)=3.87, P<0.001). Altruism and perceived need (the degree of HSCs demands) were the moderators of grouping and intention, that is, the information scale made blood donors, with stronger altruism and higher perceived need, more willing to become stem cell volunteers. Perceived risk (the negative impact of HSCs donation on health) was a partial mediator of grouping and intention. The information scale reduced blood donors' anxiety about the risk of HSCs donation, and promoted their intention to become HSCs volunteers. 【Conclusion】 This study proved that the informational scale can effectively mobilize blood donors to become HSCs volunteers.

Trends of transfusion transmittable infections among voluntary blood donors in a cardiac care hospital, Bengaluru, India

Introduction: Transmission of infectious diseases through donated blood is of concern to blood safety as transfusion forms an integral part of medical and surgical therapy. Blood transfusion carries the risk of transfusion-transmittable infections including HIV, hepatitis–B etc. Screening of voluntary donors who represent healthy population serves as a predictor for these dreadful diseases in healthy population. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was conducted at the blood bank of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research, Bengaluru. Data were analyzed for a period of 7 years from January 2011 to December 2017. All voluntary donors including replacement donors of our blood bank were screened for Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Syphilis infection by using ELISA. Results: The most common infection was Hepatitis B (0.69%) followed by Syphilis (0.34%) and HIV (0.0736%) and least with HCV (0.04%) in our study. Conclusion: This study has shown a decrease in seroprevalence for HIV and increase in seroprevalence for HCV over 7 years study period.

Assessment of prevalence of sexually transmissible infections among voluntary blood donors and its comparison with replacement donors at Hassan Institute of Medical Science, Hassan, Karnataka, India

Background: Hepatitis B virus, Hepatitis C virus and Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are important STDs which can be transmissible to the recipients of blood transfusion. The aim of the present study is to study the seroprevalence of HIV, HBV and HCV infection in the blood among voluntary and replacement donors in HIMS Hassan during 2010 to 2012.Methods: A retrospective study was conducted at blood bank of HIMS, Hassan for the years 2010 to 2012. The donors with Hemoglobin>12gm% for both sexes, weight >50 kg, no history of chronic illness, hepatitis, high risk behaviours were included in the study. All the blood samples collected were screened for HIV, HBV and HCV using ELISA kits. All the blood samples were sent to NACO (national AIDS control organization) and subjected to NAT (nucleic acid test) for detection of antigens. Results compared for both voluntary and replacement donors.Results: Total of 10938 blood donors screened. Majority of the donors were males 95.8% (10484) and belonged to voluntary group 72.8% (7971). The total prevalence of STDS were 0.61% (67). The prevalence of HBV, HCV and HIV was 0.47% (51), 0.04% (4) and 0.11% (12) respectively. Prevalence of STDs was higher among voluntary donors 0.57% (62) compared to replacement donors 0.05 % (5). Statistically significant difference was observed in HBV prevalence in voluntary and replacement donors.Conclusions: Most common STDs in blood donors was HBV followed by HIV and HCV. STDs were mainly seen in voluntary donors compared to replacement donors. Majority of the donors were males.

Donante voluntario y de reposición sero-reactividad en el municipio de rionegro antioquia

En Colombia existe todavía un gran porcentaje de donantes de sangre de reposición; invertir esta tendencia es el reto más importante en materia de seguridad que se plantean hoy los bancos de sangre; pero no se debe desestimar a los donantes de reposición, sino que al contrario deben ser bien evaluados y orientados a que su acto de solidaridad sea realizado con responsabilidad y sinceridad. Objetivo: Determinar la prevalencia de sero-reactividad en donantes voluntarios y de reposición. Materiales y Métodos: Estudio observacional retrospectivo de 209 muestras sero-reactivas,confirmadas por laboratorio de referencia en 34414 muestras obtenidas durante el periodo 2005 - 2010 en un Hospital de referencia del oriente de Antioquia. Resultados: Del total de 34.414 muestras de sangre, fueron reactivas el 0.6% en las que se halló lo siguiente: 58.6% eran donantes voluntarios; la edad promedio fue de 38.6±12.4 años, sin diferencias significativas por sexo y tipo de donante (p>0.05). La infección más prevalente detectada fue la sífilis con 74.5% (n= 155), seguida de la hepatitis B con 13% (n=27). No se hallaron diferencias significativas entre el donante voluntario y el donante de reposición según sero-reactividad (p>0.05). Conclusiones: Se evidencia que seis de cada mil donantes resulta positivo para alguna de las cinco enfermedades infecciosas tamizadas. Llama la atención la prevalencia tan alta de sero-reactividad para sífilis (tres de cada cuatro donantes). En cuanto al VIH se encontró mayor sero-reactividad en donantes voluntarios hombres.

In Colombia there is still a large percentage of replacement blood donors. The biggest challenge in security raises blood banks today is to reverse this trend, but replacement donors cannot be dismissed, instead they have to be thoroughly evaluated and directed to do their act of solidarity with responsibility and sincerity. Objective: To determine the prevalence of zero-reactivity in volunteer and replacement donors. Materials and Methods: A retrospective and observational study of 209 zero-reactive samples confirmed by a reference laboratory in 34414 samples during the period 2005 to 2010 in a reference hospital of east Antioquia. Results: From a total of 34414 blood samples, 0.6% was reactive. The following characteristics were found: 58.6% were voluntary donors, the average age was 38.6±12.4, without significant differences by gender and donor type (p>0.05). The most prevalent infection detected was syphilis with 74.5% (n = 155), followed by hepatitis B with 13% (n = 27). No significant differences were found between the donor and the replacement voluntary donor according to zero-reactivity (p> 0.05). Conclusions: It is shown that six of every thousand donors' tests were positive for any of the five infectious diseases screened. It is surprising the high prevalence of zero-reactivity for syphilis (three out of four donors). Greater HIV zero-reactivity was found in male volunteer donors.