Anemia and Iron Depletion among Blood Donors

Abstract

Objective: The blood donation can cause the iron depletion or even iron deficiency anemia. This study is aimed to find the iron depletion and anemia among blood donors and to test the validity of hemoglobinometer for blood donor anemia screening. Participants and Methods: This cross-sectional study recruits the blood donors who are investigated for Hb concentration using hemoglobinometer for blood donor screening and automated hematology analyzer and serum ferritin during September-December 2013, at blood donation center, Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital. Results: Only 203 from 249 can donate blood and they are classified into 4 groups, i) the first donation, ii) 2-5 donations, iii) 6-10 donations, iv) >10 donations. Only 57 donors (28.1%) have hypoferritinemia that is more common in group iv (9.1% in group i vs. 34.6% in group iv). And 63 donors (31.0%) have anemia that is more common in group i (45.4% in group i vs. 26.9% in group iv). As compared with the automated analyzer, the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, positive and negative likelihood ratios of hemoglobinometer for detecting anemia are 40.0%, 97.2%, 91.3%, 69.0%, 14.4 and 0.62, respectively. Conclusion: Hypoferritinemia and anemia are very common among blood donors. But the hemoglobinometer for blood donor screening has very low sensitivity to detect the anemia, so it seems rather harmful if it is used to screen the donors.