Prevalence of serological ineligibility due to HCV virus infection among candidates for blood donation at Hemocentro Regional de Uberaba (Brazil)

Abstract

Introduction: Hepatitis C is caused by a flavivirus and its prevention is done by
serological screening in blood banks. Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of
ineligibility rate for blood donation due to HCV, to examine the epidemiological
profile of the ineligible donors and the tendency of ineligibility due to HCV, and
to verify the agreement between the ELISA and RIBA (recombinant immunoblot
assay). Methods: Retrospective study of blood donations held at the Hemocentro
Regional de Uberaba (HRU) from 1995 to 2008. The epidemiological profile
was calculated according to its proportional values (to 10,000 donations) and the
evaluation of the trend was performed through the linear correlation coefficient at a 5% level of significance. Analysis of agreement between ELISA and RIBA was
performed with calculation of the kappa coefficient. Results: During the studied
period, 218,871 blood donations were carried out at the HRU. Of these, 814 (0.37%)
were unsuitable because of positive serological test for HCV by ELISA, with higher
and statistically significant proportions of males, aged over 30 years, coming from
the city of Uberaba and married. There was a strong linear correlation inversely
proportional of ineligibility due to HCV serology in the period of time assessed (r =
- 0.870631). The agreement between ELISA and RIBA was 46.8% (kappa = 0.637).
Conclusion: A tendency for decreasing ineligibility due to HCV among blood
donors was observed, with a progressive decrease of the risk of HCV contamination
by blood transfusion.