Abstract

Background: Blood donations have a great impact in medicine. Annually, large amounts of financial funding are expended to ensure the safety of recipients, but very little attention is given to the state of well-being of blood donors.

Aim: To determine the extent of iron deficiency state (ID) in Sudanese blood donors to predict the possible occurrence of iron deficiency anaemia after donation.

Methods: One hundred Sudanese female blood donors from different universities volunteered to join the study. Their ages ranged from 18 years old to 27 years old. Complete cell count (CBC) was determined by using a haematology analyser (Mindary 3000) and serum ferritin using Minividas, whereas serum iron and total iron binding capacity were measured by using a chemistry analyser (Mindray BS-200). The participants were divided into three groups according to their haemoglobin (HGB) and serum ferritin levels. Group I comprised 45 normal subjects with normal HGB and ferritin level. Group II comprised 35 subjects with ID and with normal HGB and low ferritin levels. Group III comprised 20 subjects with ID anaemia (IDA) with low HGB and ferritin levels.

Results This study revealed a significant decrease in HGB level (p-value=0.000) and serum ferritin level (p-value=0.000) in female blood donors who had ID and IDA when compared with those with normal iron stores.

Conclusion: Blood collection centres should assess the iron stores of female blood donors who are of childbearing age. Iron replacement treatment needs to be offered to female blood donors with low ferritin to minimise the risk of iron depletion. Moreover, donors with low HGB levels can choose to defer their donation to a later date

Keywords: Female Donors, Hemoglobin, serum ferritin, iron Deficiency