title: Blood donor deferral pattern in Iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Donor selection is still being emphasized, even in the era of sensitive laboratory screening. Therefore, a number of volunteers are deferred from blood donation. This study evaluated the deferral rate in Iran, as well as the frequency of each reason in order to monitor the impact of donor selection process on donor loss.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was carried out on data of all volunteers who were deferred from blood donation in Isfahan Blood Transfusion Services between the years 2007 - 2008. The deferral reasons were then classified into "donor safety" and "recipient safety". The total deferral rates within sociodemographic variables and donor status were compared. Then, the rates of various specific deferral reasons were calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of 197,757 blood donor volunteers, 50,727 (25.6 %) were deferred from donation; 88.6 % were temporarily deferred whereas 11.4 % were permanently deferred. The deferral rate for females and males was 54.6 % and 24.3 %, respectively. Forty-three percent of the first-time donors, 9 % of the lapsed donors, and 11.9 % of the regular donors were deferred. Sixty-one percent of all deferrals were due to donors' safety while 31 % were deferred due to recipients' safety.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Blood donors' deferral rate in Iran was significantly higher than other countries. This may be due to special attention to donor selection procedures. However, revision of the national criteria of donor selection and rigorous adherence to these criteria should be considered. Also, it is emphasized to improve the blood donor retention strategies to boost the regular blood donors' pool.
authors.affiliation: Blood Transfusion Research Center, High Institute for Research and Education in Transfusion Medicine, Tehran, Iran. maghsoodlu@ibto.ir.
authors.forename: Fariba
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Birjandi
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gharehbaghian
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Delavari
authors.forename: Negar
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rezaie
authors.forename: Mahtab
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maghsudlu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001771:Blood Banks / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001782:Blood Donors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D058731:Blood Safety / Q000592:standards; D046148:Donor Selection / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult