Evaluation of capillary haemoglobin determination for anaemia screening in blood donation settings

Background. An accurate assessment of hemoglobin (Hb) values before donation is unavoidable for safeguarding donors' safety and fulfilling the current specifications of Hb content in blood bags. This study was hence aimed to compare a finger-prick method for Hb measurement in capillary blood with Hb assessment in venous blood using a hematological analyser.Materials and methods. The study populations consisted in 1,014 consecutive blood donors, who had paired measurement of Hb values with HemoCue on capillary blood and UniCel DxH800 in venous blood.Results. A significant overestimation was found with HemoCue compared to UniCel DxH800, but the correlation between methods was significant (comprised between 0.600 and 0.759; all p<0.01) and the bias always lower than the quality specifications. The prevalence of Hb values below the gender-specific thresholds for blood donation was also not significantly different (p=0.186).Discussion. It can hence be concluded that the finger-prick method evaluated is a safe and reliable means for screening blood donors.