Prevalence of HBsAg and Anti-HCV reactivity in donors embarking on direct blood donation and among first-time blood donors in Zahedan Blood Transfusion Center

Donors embarking on direct blood donation and first-time blood donors contribute to a significant proportion of the blood units collected in our center. However, there are some concerns on the safety of this kind of donation because of the possible existence of incentives for the donor to conceal deferrable risk factors, thus increasing the risk of donation within the window period of transfusion-transmitted infections. We tested the hypothesis that if donors for direct blood donation are less safe than other blood donors, the former would display a higher prevalence of viral markers. This descriptive analytic study was conducted on 7192 donor forms; this number of donors referred to Zahedan Blood Transfusion Service during 2002 [21 Nov]-2003 [19 Feb]. Then, the comparison was made among donors for direct blood donation, volunteer, first time, and regular blood donors. Statistical analyses were performed with the SPSS [version 10.5] and Chi-square test. Our study was conducted on 7192 donor forms. 6345 [88.2%] of the subjects were male, 3264 [45.4%] married, and 1511 [21%] above 30 years of age. Prevalence of HBsAg positivity was 2.3 times higher among first-time donors than repeat donors [p<.0001]. Prevalence of Anti-HCV reactivity was 1.5 times higher among first-time donors than repeat donors [p<.0001]. The rate of HBsAg positivity among donors embarking on direct blood donation was 2.4 times higher than volunteer blood donors [p<.0001], and the rate of Anti-HCV reactivity in the former was 2.4 times higher than in volunteer blood donors [p<.0001]. The age range higher than 30 was significant in the case of HBsAg positive and Anti-HCV reactive blood donors. Basesd on the above results, the contamination rate among donors for direct blood donation and first time donors was more than repeat and volunteer blood donors. This calls for an organized program and a better technique and strategy