Research article

Serum Ferritin analyses as a tool to estimate iron stores in blood donors at the Regional Blood Center in Montes Claros, Brazil

^1,2Karina Marini Aguiar, ²Mauro Aparecido de Souza Xavier, ³Caroline Nogueira Maia, ⁴Leandro de Freitas Teles, ⁵Wilson Athayde Ribeiro,  ⁶Anna Bárbara de Freitas Carneiro Proietti,  ^*2Alessandra Rejane Ericsson de Oliveira Xavier

^1,3,4Regional Blood Center Montes Claros, Immunohematology laboratory,  Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil

²Graduate Program in Biotechnology, Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros, Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

⁵Laboratory of Clínical Analyses, University Hospital Clemente de Faria, Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

⁶Hemominas Blood Center Foundation, Research Department, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil

*Corresponding Author E-mail: ericsson_aerc@yahoo.com

Accepted 29 November 2014

Abstract

Repeated blood donors may have iron stores diminished as a result of the reduction of the levels of serum ferritin (SF) a reliable indicator in measuring the reserves of this mineral. The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of erythrocyte analyses (EA) and determination of SF as tools to estimate iron store in blood donors. We conducted a study with 3 types of donors: Group 1 (G1)-first time donors, Group 2 (G2)-repeated donors and Group 3 (G3)-sporadic donors. Blood samples were submitted to EA, determining the level of SF and hemoglobin (Hb). The Mann-Whitney and Chi-square tests were used for statistical analysis of the characteristics and laboratory variables. The iron depletion was found at 5.7% in G1 and 13.2% in G2. Hb levels between the two groups showed statistically significant difference among donors of G1 compared to the G2 (p-value < 0.05). There was a reduction in the level of SF of 50%, 75% and 85% in G2 with respectively one, three and five donations in 12 months period. We conclude that the EA and Hb failed to detect or exclude donors with depletion of iron store being the reverse result for the determination of SF.

Keywords: Iron depletion, blood donors, serum ferritin, hemoglobin