A study on confidential unit exclusion at Shiraz Blood Transfusion Center, Iran.
BACKGROUND
Confidential unit exclusion (CUE) system has been designed to enhance transfusion safety as an extra additive approach.


OBJECTIVE
This study was designed to survey demographic characteristics, prevalence of serologic markers, and reasons of opting CUE.


METHODS
The cross-sectional study was performed at Shiraz Blood Transfusion Center (Southern Iran). CUE is used for all individuals who refer for blood donation, and donors can choose their blood not to be used if they have any doubt about their blood suitability for transfusion. The prevalence rate of HIV, hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) was compared between the blood donors who opted into and out of CUE. Then, the donors were contacted to give another blood sample and the reasons of deferral. Researchers also determined whether their reasons were logical or not. Data were analyzed using comparison of proportions in MedCalc software 7.


RESULTS
Out of all the donors, 2365 ones (2.3%) opted for CUE. CUE was more frequent among men, singles, donors with low education levels, between 18 and 25 years old, and with history of previous donation (P < 0.05). The prevalence rate of HCV was higher among the donors who opted for CUE (P < 0.05), but it was not the case regarding HBV and HIV (P>0.05). Furthermore, 91.5% of the donors had opted for CUE by mistake and only 8% had chosen CUE logically.


CONCLUSIONS
It is necessary to review the process of CUE, make some changes both in procedure and design, and then survey its effectiveness in blood safety.
Blood Transfusion Research Center, Higher Institute for Research and Education in Transfusion Medicine, Tehran, Iran.
Leila
L
Kasraian
Blood Transfusion Research Center, Higher Institute for Research and Education in Transfusion Medicine, Tehran, Iran; Transplant Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Science, Shiraz, Iran.
Mohammad Hossein
MH
Karimi
Blood-borne transmitted infections; blood donor; blood safety; donor exclusion; donor screening; donor selection