Profile of ineligible candidates for blood donation in the Hemotherapy Service of Santo Ângelo Hospital, RS, Brazil

Abstract

The advances in diagnostic methodologies for transmissible blood diseases and the development of clinical screening to select blood donors have left hemotherapy practice safer. Blood donation campaigns attempt to attract higher number of candidates to supply blood demand. The candidate undergoes a clinical screening and a social-epidemiologic interview in order to select a healthy candidate to produce the best blood supplies products achievable. We aimed to study the ineligible blood donors profile through the analysis of 505 files of unfit candidates by clinical screening between 2005 and 2010 at the Hemotherapy Service of Santo Ângelo Hospital - RS. Sixty-two percent of ineligible candidates were male, for males and females the majority had completed high school and were between 18 and 23 years old. The main cause for ineligibility was multiple sex partners, high risk behavior for males, and low hematocrit for females. The awareness of the profile of ineligible candidate shows the importance of information collected in clinical screening, inform the interviewer and, ultimately, leads to a safer hemotherapeutic practice.