Vol. 4 Issue 3 Part C

Introduction: There are many methods available for predonation hemoglobin screening but there is no single method suitable for this purpose. To determine the accuracy of fingerstick hemoglobin assessment in blood donors, the performance of a portable hemoglobinometer (HemoCue Hb 301) was prospectively compared with that of an automated hematology analyzer (Horiba Pentra XLR).

Material and Method: 330 blood donor’s capillary fingerprick, venous sample hemoglobin were measured by HemoCue Hb 301 and concurrent venous sample hemoglobin measured by automated hematology analyzer.

Results: Mean capillary hemoglobin using HemoCue Hb 301 was 13.60± 1.02 gm/dl which was more than venous hemoglobin using HemoCue Hb 301(13.39 ± 0.96 gm/dl) and both were higher than automated hematology analyzer venous hemoglobin values (13.13±1.01 gm/dl). The correlation coefficient between automated hematology analyzer and capillary HemoCue values was 0.98, between venous and capillary HemoCue was 0.99 and between automated hematology analyzer and venous HemoCue was 0.99. P value for all comparison group is < 0.0001. Fingerprick capillary hemoglobin value measured by HemoCue Hb 301 has only 1.53% false-pass rate.

Conclusions: Capillary fingerprick hemoglobin measured by HemoCue Hb 301 was slightly higher than venous hemoglobin value measured by an automated hematology analyzer. HemoCue Hb 301 is an appropriate and reliable screening method for pre-donation haemoglobin estimation for blood donors.