Prevalence of select micronutrient deficiencies in Indian voluntary blood donors

Frequent and regular blood donation is associated with iron deficiency and iron depletion in apparently healthy individuals. However, besides iron, water-soluble vitamins and folate play a significant role in regulating hemoglobin erythropoiesis. Hence, the determination of the prevalence of these supplementary micronutrient deficiencies in regular blood donors can contribute as an additional blood donor safety measure.

In this study spanning from 2014 to 2020, we assessed ferritin, folate, and Vitamin B12 status in a total of 1722 healthy voluntary Indian blood donors. We further correlated these findings to donor physiognomic parameters such as gender and dietary habits. In addition, we have compared the hematological parameters in donors deficient and nondeficient for the three micronutrients.

Total blood donors included 1360 males and 362 females with the median age for donors of 30 years in both sexes. A higher prevalence of Vitamin B12 and folate deficiency was observed in males (P = 0.0001). However, ferritin deficiency was observed to be more common in female donors (P < 0.0001). Based on the dietary preferences, Vitamin B12 deficiency was observed to be higher in vegetarian donors (P = 0.001), while folate deficiency was more prevalent in nonvegetarian donors (P = 0.005). No such statistically significant correlation was observed in food habits for ferritin deficiency (P = 0.4). Mean corpuscular volume and total red blood cell count were observed to be significantly lower in ferritin-deficient donors compared to nondeficient (P < 0.0001).

Evaluation of micronutrient deficiencies such as Vitamin B12, folate, and ferritin should be routinely incorporated in the blood donor investigation profile in addition to the regular screening tests, especially for repeat donors, thus enhancing the blood donor safety.