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- Title
Comparison of WHO haemoglobin colour scale and copper sulphate against a reference haemiglobincyanide method in blood donor screening.
- Authors
Thakral, B.; Kalra, A.; Saluja, K.; Sharma, R. R.; Marwaha, N.
- Abstract
Background and Aim: Predonation haemoglobin (Hb) determination during donor screening protects the blood donor from iron deficiency anaemia; it is also an assurance of a minimum Hb dose per red blood cell unit transfusion to ensure its potency. The aim of the present study was to assess the utility of WHO haemoglobin colour scale (HCS) as an alternative test to conventional copper sulphate in screening blood donors for anaemia. Materials and Methods: A prospective study was conducted in November 2005 at the blood collection centre of a tertiary care hospital based transfusion service. For blood donor screening using WHO HCS the discrimination point for anaemia is set at 12 g/dl Accordingly, copper sulphate with a specific gravity of 1.052 (representing Hb value of 12g/ dl) was used for comparison with HCS as opposed to specific gravity of 1.053 as per the requirement of Indian Drugs and Cosmetics Act. Blood samples were collected from 240 potential donors by finger prick using disposable lancets to get a free flow of blood. One drop each of capillary blood was used for Hb estimation by HCS and copper sulphate respectively. Predonation, venous blood (2 ml) was collected in di-sodium- EDTA to estimate Hb by automated blood cell counter (MS4, Switzerland) based on the principle of haemiglobincyanide (HiCN) method. The utility of HCS in screening blood donors for anaemia was compared to copper sulphate against the HiCN method with respect to sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value. The percentage of donors falsely accepted and rejected by the two methods was also compared. Results: Two hundred and forty prospective blood donors (79% males, n=189) were screened for anaemia using copper sulphate, HCS and the reference HiCN method. The prevalence of anaemia (Hb <12 g/dl) in our blood donors by the copper sulphate method, HCS and the HiCN method was 25.4% (n=61), 23.3% (n=56) and 24.6% (n=59) respectively. HCS had an accuracy of 96% in distinguishing donors with normal Hb and those below the acceptable limit for donation as compared to 92% for copper sulphate when compared with the reference HiCN method readings. The sensitivity of HCS was also higher than the copper sulphate method (83.1% vs. 79.6% respectively). The HCS was found to be more reliable than the latter method, both in accepting and rejecting the blood donors. It gave 7.1% false results (2.9% false rejects; 4.2% false accept) as compared to the copper sulphate method by which there were 10.8% false results (5.8% false rejects; 5% false accept). Conclusions: HCS is a reliable alternative method to screen and exclude anemic donors from donating blood. It is simple, reliable, cheap and rapid method for estimating Hb from a wide range of 4 to 14 g/dl. The overall false rejection rate was 50% lower as compared to copper sulphate which is especially important with the present day scenario of universal shortage of blood donors.
- Subjects
HEMOGLOBINS; BLOOD donors; WORLD Health Organization; IRON deficiency anemia; ERYTHROCYTES
- Publication
Asian Journal of Transfusion Science, 2007, Vol 1, Issue 2, p83
- ISSN
0973-6247
- Publication type
Article