COMPARATIVE STUDY OF BLOOD PROFILE OF VOLUNTARY AND DIRECTED DONORS
Isha Shahzad, Sidra Hareem, *Neelam Mazhar, Saima Farhan and Attiq Ur Rehman
ABSTRACT
Background: Blood transfusion safety relies on healthy donor’s blood, but directed donation offers minimal improvement compared to volunteer donation. Patient attendants still choose specific donors for transfusion needs. Objective: To compare blood profile of voluntary and directed donors. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine, the Children’s hospital and UCHS Lahore and Sundas Foundation from September 2024 to December 2024. Material and Method: Hematological parameters i.e. hemoglobin and platelets were performed through CBC on automated cell counter BECKMAN COULTER(US) of selected blood sample. Data was analyzed with independent sample t test, Pearson’s correlation with IBM Statistics 23 software. Chi-Square was applied to compare marker positive rates of directed donations to volunteer donations. Results: A total of 150 donors were recruited having mean age of 29.47±6.705. The Pearson correlation analysis showed a weak positive correlation between hb and platelet count in voluntary vs directed donors (r=0.175). The study found that voluntary donors had slightly higher mean hb level than directed donors but a significantly higher mean platelet count than directed donors, indicating a statistically significant difference. There were significant variations in HCV and Malaria responses across donor types. Conclusion: Voluntary donations have higher hb and platelet counts but lower viral marker rates, suggesting that patients should be informed about potential risks of directed donations.
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