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Iron stores in the body exist primarily in the form of ferritin. Small amounts of ferritin secreted into the plasma and plasma ferritin is positively correlated with the size of the total body iron stores. The present study conducted to determine the iron status using the serum ferritin level among healthy Bangladeshi blood donors. The present cross sectional study was conducted in the Department of Transfusion Medicine, Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh from July 2011 to June 2012. Blood donor signed informed consent and has satisfactory pre-donation health assessment and satisfactory post-donation blood test results were included in the study. Full blood counts were performed within 4 hours of collection using an automated haematology analyzer. Serum ferritin was measured using a validated enzyme immunoassay. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16 (SPPS Incorporation, Chicago, IL, USA). P value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Total 100 blood donors were included in the study, among them 88 were male and 12 were female. Mean±SD of the age of the respondents was 26.8±5.9 years with a range of 19 to 45 years. Mean±SD of heamoglobin level (gm/dl) and total count of Red Blood Cell (million/cmm) were 14.1±1.4 and 5.1±0.4 respectively. Mean±SD of serum ferritin level (ng/ml) was 96.4±69.0ng/ml with a range of 4.1ng/ml to 298.7ng/ml. Among the respondents 9.0% had depleted iron store, 7.0 reduced iron store and 84.0% had normal iron store. Among the respondents 5.0% had iron deficiency anaemia in term of serum ferritin level. Statistically significant difference of serum ferritin level observed between male and female and donors with and without history of previous blood donation. Among the healthy blood donors of Bangladesh abnormal serum ferritin is highly prevalent among blood donors specially among female. Monitoring of iron stores by serum ferritin seems justified in order to identify those with depleted iron stores who will benefit from iron supplementation.

Blood donation results in a substantial iron loss and subsequent mobilization from body stores. Chronic iron deficiency is a well-recognized complication of regular blood donation. The present study conducted to compare the level of serum ferritin, serum iron, total iron binding capacity (TIBC) and percentage transferrin saturation in different ABO and Rhesus type blood groups among the voluntary blood donors of Bangladesh. The present prospective study included 100 healthy voluntary donors attending at Department of Blood Transfusion, Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka between the periods of July 2013 to Jun 2014. From each donor 10mL venous blood sample was taken and divided into heparinized and non-heparinized tubes for determination of hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (Hct), serum iron (SI), total iron binding capacity (TIBC) and serum ferritin by standard laboratory methods. Percentage of transferrin saturation (TS) calculated from serum iron and TIBC. Data were analyzed with SPSS (version 16) software and comparisons between groups were made using student's t-test and one way ANOVA. In the present study mean±SD of age of the respondents was 27.2±6.5 years with a range of 18 to 49 years and 81.0% were male and 19.0% were female. Among the donors 18.0% had blood group A, 35.0% had blood group B, 14.0% had blood group AB and 33.0% had blood group O. Among the donors 91.0% had rhesus positive and 9.0% had rhesus negative. Donors with blood group O had lowest haemoglobin, serum iron and transferring saturation levels. Donors with blood group A had highest TIBC level. Donors with blood group B had lowest serum ferritin level. An independent samples 't' test showed statistically significant difference in serum ferritin and percentage transferrin saturation between blood group AB and blood group O and in percentage transferrin saturation between blood group B and blood group O. One way ANOVA showed that there is no significant difference in haemoglobin, serum iron, serum ferritin and percentage transferring saturation in different ABO and Rh blood grouping categories. Blood donors with blood group O had lowest haemoglobin, serum iron and transferring saturation levels and donors with blood group A had highest TIBC level. Blood donors with blood group B had lowest serum ferritin level. The understanding of the different blood groups ability to retain iron in their system can give an insight into their ability to handle the disease iron deficiency anaemia.