Abstract
Background: Blood safety is a significant transfusion medicine problem around the world; The selection of blood donors is essential for the safety of donors and recipients as well as maintaining an adequate blood supply, and this can be accomplished by enforcing donor deferral guidelines and investigating potential Transfusion Transmitted Infections (TTI).
The purpose of this study: was to examine the demographics of blood donors as well as the frequency and factors that contribute to donor deferral in the province of Duhok.
Method: This cross-sectional study was carried out at the Duhok blood banking center from December 2021 to May 2022. The participants in this study were the blood donors who attended the center during the research period. SPSS 26 was used for data gathering and statistical analysis.
Results: Most of the donors were in the age group 30-39 (39.2%). In terms of occupation, most subjects were unemployed (63.01%) followed by military persons (21.23%). Of all the potential blood donors were males 1148 (98.30%) and 20 (1.70%) were females. Deferral occurred in 1168 (17.81%) of attempts; 190 (91.35%) of all deferrals were temporary and 18 (8.65%) permanent. The three main causes of deferral were medication use (25.96%), a recent donation (21.63%), and anemia (10.57%).
Conclusion: The pattern of donor deferrals described in this study was the same as those in other regional investigations. The reason for donation was mainly voluntary rather than replacement. The majority of contributors were men, so it's critical to support and motivates female donors in order to expand the total number of donors. In order for the deferred donors to participate in future blood donations, they must be actively satisfied.
