Trend of blood donation in Kermanshah province 2009-2013

To organize blood donors, promote blood donation, predict the future, and detect possible intervening factors, we must monitor and evaluate the trend of blood donation. In this cross-sectional study, all blood donors during the 5-year period from 2009 to 2013 in Kermanshah entered the study. The data analyzed using Excel, statistical package of Stata (version 12), and independent T-test were used to compare the means in different groups; Poisson regression was used to investigate the significant trend during the time. During 2009 to 2013 (5 years), 295925 potential donors referred to blood centers in Kermanshah province; 249420 (84.2%) were eligible for blood donation out of whom 216563 (87.8%) were men. The trend of blood donation during the years of study showed to be downward among females but upward among males. Moreover, among blood donors 117080 (46.9%) were regular donors whose number was growing. Findings show that most blood donors in the West of Iran are regular donors with an ascending trend. Given the fact that regular donors are safer than first-time donors for infections such as HBV, HCV and HIV, it can be concluded that over time the quality and safety of blood donations would be at a better position.