title: Successful exclusion of blood-borne viral disease in blood donors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  All blood transfusion services have various rules to insure that blood products are kept safe for transfusion. Donor selection is crucial in providing safe blood. We propose in our study to determine the influence of donor selection on blood safety.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this case-control study, donors who were referred to the Qazvin Blood Transfusion Organization during 2007-2009 were selected. Based on a special questionnaire, all blood donors were examined by physicians and every donor was categorized as one of two types of rejected donors (high risk and low risk) or as accepted donors. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 13.0, using chi-square and Fisher's exact tests, where P<0.05 was considered significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Single donors, the self-employed, the unemployed and students were banned from donation due to high-risk criteria (P<0.0001, 0.003). Female donors were banned from donation due to low-risk criteria. Hepatitis B was more prevalent among cases rejected for donation due to high-risk criteria than among healthy controls (P=0.014); but not so for hepatitis C (P=0.058). Hepatitis B was not significantly more prevalent among those cases rejected for donation due to low-risk criteria, than among healthy cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Those having a history of unsafe sexual conduct and intravenous drug abusers and their spouses are at risk for hepatitis C. Cases rejected for donation due to low-risk criteria were banned from donation to maintain the donors' health, while other cases with low-risk criteria were banned to guarantee the blood recipients' health.
authors.affiliation: Qazvin Blood Transfusion Center, Iran Blood Transfusion Organization Research Center, Qazvin, Iran.
authors.forename: Homa
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ramezani
authors.forename: Seyed Hasan
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Bozorgi
authors.forename: Mehrdad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nooranipour
authors.forename: Mohsen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sadri
authors.forename: Somayeh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Molaverdikhani
authors.forename: Seyed Moayed
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Alavian
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000368:Aged; D001771:Blood Banks / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001782:Blood Donors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D046148:Donor Selection / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019353:Endemic Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards; D000094902:Blood Banking / Q000379:methods*