ABSTRACT
Background: COVID-19 is an emerging and rapidly evolving situation globally, and it poses additional burden for emergency health care services especially the transfusion medicine and the need of an hour to safeguard our regular blood donors. Aim and Objectives: The study aims to find out the proportion of COVID-19 infection among blood donors and non-blood donors (NBDs) and to assess their behavioral risk factors that predispose to COVID-19. Materials and Methods: A case-control study was conducted among regular blood donors and non-blood donors at the department of transfusion medicine attached to tertiary care hospital with an objective to find out the proportion of COVID-19 status and the risk factors associated with its occurrence. Results: Total of 834 participants involved in our study. Accordingly, we found the proportion of COVID-19 to be 9% among regular blood donors and 2% among NBDs. A significant association was noted with regular going out, comorbidities, B positive blood group and perceived stress as the risk factors in regular blood donors. Moreover, among NBDs maintaining social distancing and regular washing of hands/use of sanitizers were significant factors. Conclusions: The novelty of this study helps to remake our policies concerned mainly on the protection of our potentially emergency service providers against COVID-19 infection. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Asian Journal of Medical Sciences is the property of Manipal Colleges of Medical Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)