The return rate of blood donors during three years after temporary deferral in Tabriz

The goal of Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization (IBTO) is to provide safe blood and blood components that are necessary for patients. Blood donors are interviewed and selected in order to providing safety of blood donors and recepients, so a number of potential blood donors to be deferred. The aim of this study was to determine the rate of donors return after temporary deferral in the center of East Azerbaijan province.

In this study, temporary deferred donors in Tabriz in 2013 were included. Temporary deferred donors were analyzed by the reasons of deferral. The return rate during 3 years after deferral were calculated and compared between different blood donors.

Of all the 66176 volunteers, 20% were deferred from blood donation and 80% were found eligible. Of those deferred, 92% were temporarily deferred. The most frequent causes of temporary deferral were abnormal finding in physical examinations (25%), a history of medication use (23%), and a history of bloodletting or tattooing (8%). Of the potential fisrt time donors deferred, only 1.5% returned for blood donation during the three years following the temporary deferral. However, 54% and 94% of the repeat and regular donors returned, respectively.

The present study showed that first-time blood donors who were deferred have a less return rate than regular and repeat donors who were deferred.