Patterns of pre-donation deferral in voluntary blood donors with its impact on the donor pool- A study in a tertiary care hospital

Background: The prime responsibility of a Blood Transfusion Service is to provide a very safe,sufficient and timely supply of blood and its components to those in need. In fulfilling thisresponsibility, the Blood Transfusion Service should ensure that the act of blood donation is safe andcauses no harm to the donor. Aims and objectives: To estimate the incidence of pre-donationdeferral in a tertiary care institute and to estimate various factors for donor deferral. Material andmethodology: A retrospective analysis of donors data was collected from January 2019 toDecember 2019 from the donor deferral registry maintained in the blood bank. In this study, thesubjects who visited our blood bank or arrived at a voluntary blood donation camp for purpose ofdonating blood were screened by donor questionnaire and basic physical examination done withrecording vital signs(temperature, blood pressure, pulse rate) followed by hemoglobin estimationand blood grouping. Results: In the present study, 456 donors were deferred from donation. Thedeferral rate was 13.6%. Deferral rate was high among males. The majority of deferrals, weretemporary deferrals, 380(83.33%) and 76(16.66%) were permanent deferrals. Anemia was themost common cause among temporary deferrals constituting 56.05% of temporary deferrals and46.71% of total deferrals. Conclusion: Attempts should be made to create awareness amongpotential donors by conducting health talks, distributing educational pamphlets, counselling donorsduring donation and encouraging them for future donations.