Regular repetitive voluntary blood donors: What're their characteristics ?

Viroj Wiwanitkit

doi:10.4103/0973-6247.83260

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Year : 2011 | Volume : 5 | Issue : 2 | Page : 184-185

Regular repetitive voluntary blood donors: What're their characteristics ?

Viroj Wiwanitkit
Wiwanitkit House, Bangkhae, Bangkok, Thailand

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Date of Web Publication

28-Jul-2011

How to cite this article:
Wiwanitkit V. Regular repetitive voluntary blood donors: What're their characteristics ?. Asian J Transfus Sci 2011;5:184-5

How to cite this URL:
Wiwanitkit V. Regular repetitive voluntary blood donors: What're their characteristics ?. Asian J Transfus Sci [serial online] 2011 [cited 2022 Jan 23];5:184-5. Available from: https://www.ajts.org/text.asp?2011/5/2/184/83260

Sir,

Blood donation is the beginning step for blood transfusion. The requirement of blood is still high around the world at present. The most acceptable means to get blood is voluntary blood donation. There are many reports showing several factors associated with blood donation practice. The correlation between attitude and practice is confirmed. ^[1] There are also some reports on the factors promoting and preventing repetitive blood donation. Mathew et al. stated that encouraging previous donors to return was important for to increasing collections of donated blood. ^[2] Nguyen et al. stated that medical testing was the most highly rated incentive for repetitive donations, followed by frequent donor programs and convenient donation times and locations. ^[3] Here, the author tried to reanalyze the characteristics of regular repetitive blood donors, continuous donation for more than five times, in a rural setting of Thailand. The setting is Bang Sapan District, Prachuab Kiri Khan Province, Thailand, where good attitude of local people to voluntary blood donation was reported. ^[1] The data on the blood donation record on the repetitive donors was also reviewed and studied for the demographic parameters. All subjects were previously tested for the attitude level to blood donation. ^[1] The author found that there are 35 (25 males and 10 females) repetitive blood donors in this settings. All are aged between 20 and 45 years old. The education levels of all subjects are between primary (28) to secondary school (7). Classified for attitude level of this subjects using the previously published tool, all had good attitude to donation. Therefore, there is no correlation between demographic parameters (sex, age or education levels) and blood donation practice. Although there are many confirmations that education is the main factor indicating the donation practice in general populations it might not be the factor determining the regular repetitive donation. ^[1],[4] Of interest, a Buddhist monk is identified to be the one who practice the most frequent blood donation. Indeed, the donation is a rooted belief and religious practice in Buddhism. ^[5]

References

1.	Wiwanitkit V. A study on attitude towards blood donation among people in a rural district, Thailand. Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health 2000;31:609-11.
2.	Mathew SM, King MR, Glynn SA, Dietz SK, Caswell SL, Schreiber GB. Opinions about donating blood among those who never gave and those who stopped: A focus group assessment. Transfusion 2007;47:729-35.
3.	Nguyen DD, Devita DA, Hirschler NV, Murphy EL. Blood donor satisfaction and intention of future donation. Transfusion 2008;48:742-8.
4.	Goncalez TT, Sabino EC, Chen S, Salles NA, Chamone DA, McFarland W, et al. Knowledge, attitudes and motivations among blood donors in São Paulo, Brazil. AIDS Behav 2008;12(4 Suppl):S39-47.
5.	Lam WA, McCullough LB. Influence of religious and spiritual values on the willingness of Chinese-Americans to donate organs for transplantation. Clin Transplant 2000;14:449-56.