Abstract
Background and Objectives
Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization, to maintain the health of blood donors and recipients, defines the eligibility criteria for conducting blood donation process without which blood donors are deferred. Previous studies have shown the necessity of deferral criteria for blood safety. This study showed that deferral of these volunteers has improved the health of blood donors; it has been determined based on the frequency of both positive confirmatory screening test results in blood donors on their return and temporary deferral rates especially due to high risk behaviors.
 
Materials and Methods
The study was cross-sectional descriptive. Data collection was performed based on all the data of blood donation volunteers included in the NEGAREH software. The data were then analyzed by Chi-square and Excel software.
 
Results
Out of 6,877,627 volunteers during 2012-2014, 1,416,791 volunteers were deferred from blood donation. The prevalence of infectious markers in blood donors was 0.19% (10354 donations); the prevalence was 0.018% in 2,784,593 donations of donors on return (493 donors); and for 465594 donations of deferrals it was 0.209% (975 donors). The prevalence of infectious markers for donations on return was 0.225% (211 donations) for risky behaviors and 0.205% (764 donations) for the other deferred donors.
 
Conclusions 
It has been shown that the prevalence rate of the confirmed screening test results for Transfusion Transmitted Infections especially HBSAg is higher in repeat and regular donors once temporalily deferred (particularly for high risk behaviors) and returned for donation than those without the deferral record; it shows their deferral has been effective in improving blood safety.