Seroprevalence of markers for transfusion transmitted infections in donors of a national reference hospital of Paraguay, 2016

Abstract

The use of blood components has become very important for the clinical management of various pathologies, however, it is not exempt from complications, one of them being transfusion-transmitted infections (TTI). In the last decades, the risk of ITT has been reduced effectively thanks to the screening of serological markers in donors. The objective of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of markers for transfusion-transmitted infections in donors of a national reference hospital of Paraguay during 2016. This was a descriptive observational cross-sectional study with non-probabilistic convenience sampling. All patients registered as voluntary and replacement donors who attended the hospital during the months of January to December 2016 were included. The base population consisted of 21,428 donors, of which 10.05% presented reactive serological tests. The median age was 32 years, the most frequent age range was 25 to 29 years, 66.89% was men, 56.69% of donors had health insurance and 0.75% was voluntary donors. The most prevalent marker was for syphilis (5.36%). In relation to the Report of the Global State of blood safety and its availability published by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2012, the results are consistent with the prevalence given by this report