Deferral patterns of voluntary blood donors at the National Blood Transfusion Service, North East Zonal Centre, Maiduguri.

Appropriate donor selection in an important step in ensuring safe supply of blood and blood products. In this study deferral patterns of voluntary non-renumerated blood donors were determined at the North-Eastern Zonal Centre of the National Blood Transfusion service. The study was conducted between April 2007 and April 2009, and it involved the administration of a structured questionnaire. A total of 4032 voluntary blood donors were recruited, seven hundred and thirteen (17.7%) were temporarily deferred. The commonest reasons for deferral were low haemoglobin, self-deferral, high blood pressure, low weight and high risk behaviour. Other reasons are use of certain medications, low blood pressure and failed venopuncture. Gender analysis showed that more females were deferred for low haemoglobin and more males were self-deferred. Following donor recall, 146 of the 173 donors temporarily deferred came back to donate. These consisted of 113 deferral due to low haemoglobin, 30 self-deferred and 3 induced in risky behaviour. Effective education or counseling, the old tradition of giving haematinics and good dietary advice to those with low haemaglobin values, improved the safety and availability of blood and blood products. Donors who are self-deferred and those involved in high risk bahviour should never be persuaded to donate blood. There is also the need for a review of operational guidelines with regards the uniform acceptable cutoff point of 12.5g/dl haemoglobin value for males and females.