Donor selection in Japan: a trial of new criteria with predonation haemoglobin testing.
OBJECTIVE
In Japan, eligibility for blood donation depends on blood specific gravity, which does not directly measure blood haemoglobin. Additionally, the criteria are not based on normal values. Therefore, we investigated the feasibility of predonation screening by using actual haemoglobin levels, and adopted a new criterion based on the normal range for men.


METHODS
Using a portable device, we measured haemoglobin in 1032 prospective blood donors, then applied this method to all blood donations. The criterion for men was set at the 95th percentile of haemoglobin distribution, namely 13.0 g/dl and 13.5 g/dl, respectively, for 200-ml and 400-ml donations. That for women remained unchanged.


RESULTS
The percentage of men ineligible by these criteria increased from 0.6 to 1.5%, while that of women decreased from 16.5 to 14.6%. Donors with abnormal haemoglobin levels were referred to hospitals.


CONCLUSIONS
Predonation measurement of haemoglobin concentration, combined with the referral of those with abnormal values, provided a health benefit to that population.
Shimoyama
R
R
Hokkaido Red Cross Blood Centre, Yamanote, Sapporo, Japan. shimo@hokkaido.bc.jrc.or.jp
Nakase
T
T
Kojima
S
S
Tanaka
S
S
Yamamori
K
K
Kaneko
C
C
Ishimaru
K
K
Ikeda
H
H
D000328:Adult; D018798:Anemia, Iron-Deficiency / Q000175:diagnosis; D001771:Blood Banks / Q000592:standards*; D001782:Blood Donors; D005260:Female; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D013046:Specific Gravity
D006454:Hemoglobins