Blood donation in Nigeria: standard of the donated blood.

OBJECTIVE: The objective was to determine the basic hematological parameters of remunerated blood donors in Benin City and to compare them with those of voluntary donors.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a prospective study conducted in a tertiary health facility in Benin City. Pretransfusion samples were obtained from blood bags after gentle mixing and analyzed for hematological parameters. Samples were analyzed using the hematology autoanalyzer MODEL SYSMEX KN21.

RESULT: A total of 215 samples were obtained comprising 160 remunerated (paid) and 55 voluntary donor samples. In the paid donors, the mean hemoglobin concentration (Hb) and hematocrit (HCT) 7.7±2.9 and 28.8±8.5 respectively. This was significantly lower than those of voluntary donors who had 13.9±1.2 and 42.2±3.3 with P < 0.001. The mean values of the red cell counts (RBC), white cell counts (WBC), mean cell volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) were significantly lower in paid donors as P-values were < 0.001. MCV was significantly low but not compared to the other parameters as P=0.04. There was no significant difference in the platelet count.

CONCLUSION: Paid donors in Benin City have significantly lower hematological parameters than controls.