A study of serum ferritin levels among male blood donors in Hospital Universiti sains Malaysia.

Iron deficiency is the commonest cause of anemia worldwide and healthy blood donors are estimated to lose about 236 mg of iron with each donation. The objective of this study was to determine the serum ferritin levels among first time and regular male blood donors, and also to correlate the serum ferritin levels with the number of donations and hemoglobin levels. Hemoglobin levels and serum ferritin were measured in three groups of donors divided into first time donors; (n = 92), donors with 2-4 donations (n = 41), and regular donors (n = 78).