Abstract

 Background and Objectives

 Millions of lives are saved each year through blood transfusion. Although blood is a life-saving element, it can occassionally cause some severe diseases. This study was performed to assess the prevalence of hepatitis B and C virus infections and their known risk factors among Guilan blood donors from 1997 till 2002.

 Materials and Methods

 In this descriptive study, 221508 blood donors were referred to Guilan Blood Transfusion Center. ELISA test was performed for HBsAg and HCVAb detection. Positive cases of HBV and HCV were confirmed by neutralization and RIBA tests, respectively. Known risk factors including history of surgery, blood transfusion, and IV drug abuse were extracted from available medical documents for being evaluated.

 Results

 997 patients were HBsAg positive and 3603 HCVAb positive. After performing confirmation tests, the prevalence rates of HBsAg and HCVAb were 0.45% and 0.32%, respectively the rates of both were higher in males. The most common risk factors were in order history of surgery and the history of dental procedure in the past decade.

 Conclusions

 Due to several risk factors in blood donors, more studies are recommended in order to evaluate the correlation between prevalence of infections with one single risk factor as an independent variable without any factor intervening factors.

 Key words : Blood donation, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Iran