ANALYSIS OF BLOOD DONOR DEFERRAL PATTERN AT BLOOD CENTRES OF TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL IN CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU-A RETROSPECTIVE CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

CHITRA M.; ANBARASI A.; RAVISHANKAR J.

doi:10.22159/ijcpr.2025v17i6.7078

Authors

CHITRA M. Department of Transfusion Medicine, Kalaignar Centenary Super Specialty Hospital, Guindy, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2702-8658
ANBARASI A. Department of Transfusion Medicine, Government Royapettah Hospital, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India
RAVISHANKAR J. Department of Immunohematology and Blood Transfusion, Government Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital, Tirunelveli, Tamilnadu, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22159/ijcpr.2025v17i6.7078

Keywords:

Blood donors, Donor deferral, Hepatitis B

Abstract

Objective: Even though blood transfusion is a life-saving procedure, selecting a blood donor whose blood is safe for the recipient patient while avoiding adverse donor reaction is paramount in blood transfusion services. During this process, donors can get deferred which leads to loss of precious blood units. This cross-sectional retrospective study was designed to learn and analyze the reasons for deferral of blood donors at tertiary care hospital blood centres.

Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study with analysis of data for one year (April 2024 to March 2025) in May 2025. Blood donor details from Kalaignar Centenary Hospital blood centre and Government Royapettah Hospital blood centre at Chennai, Tamil Nadu were collected from Donor questionnaire forms and deferred donor register. Data was entered in Microsoft excel and analysed.

Results: Among 7877 blood donors who had registered at the blood centres during study period, donor deferral rate was 2.73%(n=215/7877) which was more common in males (78.6%, n=169/215). Most common reason of temporary deferral was low Haemoglobin (28.1%, n=43/153) followed by Hypertension (12.42%, n=19/153). Among the permanent deferrals who were all males (100%, n=62/62), the most common reason was seroreactivity to Hepatitis B virus (62.9%, n=39/62).

Conclusion: Our study findings suggest that more awareness about donation criteria and health education in population are needed, to avoid blood donor deferrals. Effective measures need to be established to bring back the temporarily deferred donors into blood donation donor pool.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

1. Ekwere TA, Ino Ekanem M, Motilewa OO, Ibanga IA. Pattern of blood donor deferral in a Tertiary Hospital, South-South, Nigeria: a three-year study review. Int J Blood Transfus Immunohematol. 2014;4:7-13. doi: 10.5348/ijbti‑2014‑14‑OA‑2.

2. Gillet P, Neijens E. An original approach to evaluating the quality of blood donor selection: checking donor questionnaires and analyzing donor deferral rate. Front Med (Lausanne). 2018 Mar 21;5:74. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2018.00074, PMID 29619370.

3. Saravanan S, Manimala SA, Parimalam M, Ravishankar J. Analysis of causes for pre-donation deferral among voluntary blood donors at a Tertiary Care Hospital. Asian J Pharm Clin Res. 2023;16(12):128-31. doi: 10.22159/ajpcr.2023.v16i12.48457.

4. World Health Organization. Blood donor selection: guidelines on assessing donor suitability for blood donation. Geneva: WHO; 2012. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ books/NBK138218/.

5. Gurika GS, Gupta S, Kumar R. To determine the blood donor deferral pattern and its causes among blood donors in Tertiary Care Hospital. Int J Health Sci Res. 2024;14(8):428-34. doi: 10.52403/ijhsr.20240849.

6. Chauhan C, Chauhan R, Awasthi S, Dutta S, Joshi H. Pattern and outcome of donor deferral-need of hour. Int J Res Med Sci. 2017;6(1):289-92. doi: 10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20175736.

7. Basavarajegowda A. Whole blood donor deferral causes in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital blood bank from South India. HTIJ. 2017;5(2):219-22. doi: 10.15406/htij.2017.05.00116.

8. Chauhan DN, Desai KN, Trivedi HJ, Agnihotri AS. Evaluation of blood donor deferral causes: a tertiary-care center-based study. Int J Med Sci Public Health. 2015;4(3):389-92. doi: 10.5455/ijmsph.2015.1211201470.

9. Ahmad N, Khan S, Hassan MJ, Jetley S. Analysis of blood donor deferral pattern in a new blood bank of a Tertiary Care Hospital in Delhi region. Int Arch Biomed Clin Res. 2020;6(1):PA7-PA11. doi: 10.21276/ddkrm204.

10. VS, RA, Haran AH, I SK, James S. Analysis of blood donor deferral pattern at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Chennai: a cross-sectional retrospective study. Cureus. 2024 Aug 22;16(8):e67541. doi: 10.7759/cureus.67541, PMID 39310487.

11. Saeed N, Akhtar A, Mudassar M, Danish M, Muzaffar A, Tariq TM. Blood donor deferral pattern and frequency at a Tertiary Care Hospital, Lahore. J Haematol Stem Cell Res. 2024;4(1):188-91.

12. Kujur DP, Tiwari DA, Bagde DS, Bombeshwar DV, Behera DT. Assessment of blood donor selection and deferral pattern in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Central India. Trop J Pathol Microbiol. 2020;6(1):83-8. doi: 10.17511/jopm.2020.i01.13.

13. Jain V, Kothari F. Analysis of blood donor deferral pattern at Tertiary Care Hospital. Int J Sci Res. 2021;10(8):78-80. doi: 10.36106/ijsr/1505647.

14. Singh J, Husain S, Giri V. Blood donor deferral pattern at Tertiary Care Teaching Institute in Western Uttar Pradesh, India. J Popul Ther Clin Pharmacol. 2023;30(17):1068-74.

15. Rajan RM, Anu J, Mathew AS. Profile of blood donors and deferral reasons in a Tertiary Care Centre in South India. J Adv Med Med Res. 2022;34(23):78-84. doi: 10.9734/jammr/2022/v34i234841.

16. Thivya DR, Vijayashree R, Meghanath K. Profile of blood donor deferrals in a tertiary care centre-our institutional experience. J Pharm Res Int. 2021;33(55B):75-80. doi: 10.9734/jpri/2021/v33i55B33848.

17. Unnikrishnan B, Rao P, Kumar N, Ganti S, Prasad R, Amarnath A. Profile of blood donors and reasons for deferral in coastal South India. Australas Med J. 2011;4(7):379-85. doi: 10.4066/AMJ.2011.641, PMID 23393523.

18. John F, Varkey MR. Evaluation of blood donor deferral causes in a Tertiary Hospital, South India. Int J Biomed Adv Res. 2015;6(3):253-8. doi: 10.7439/ijbar.v6i3.1833.