Routine diabetes screening in blood donation campaigns

BACKGROUND: Data from the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2011 showed that 20.8% of Malaysians above 30 years have diabetes. 10.1%of them are undiagnosed. Mobile blood drives could complement the public health department efforts in diabetes screening for early detection of the illness.
AIMS: This study aims to determine the necessity of diabetes screening as a routine screening program during blood donation campaign.
METHODS AND MATERIAL: Blood donation campaigns which involved the public community between January 2013 and June 2013 were included in this study. Donors above 30-years-old, not known to have diabetes, consented for diabetes screening. Diabetes screening was done by checking random capillary blood sugar (RCBS) levels while performing a Hemoglobin test and ABO grouping. Donors with RCBS of ≥ 7.8 mmol/L were given appointments for oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) to confirm the diagnosis of diabetes.
RESULTS: A total of 211 diabetes screenings were performed. Mean RCBS was 6 mmol/L. 43(20.4%) donors had RCBS≥ 7.8 mmol/L. 10 donors were later diagnosed to have diabetes (5.0%) and 5 donors were prediabetes (2.5%). 9 donors (4.3%) did not turn up for further investigation.
CONCLUSIONS: Blood donors are expected to be healthy volunteers. The diabetes prevalence among blood donors (5.0%) is considered low if compared with the prevalence in the whole population (20.8%). However, the number is largely comparable to the prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes in the country (10.1%). Routine diabetes screening during blood donation campaign should be implemented to safeguard donors' health and serve as a public health initiative to improve community health.