Comparison of Blood Donor Reactions in Whole Blood Donations, Plasmapheresis and Plateletpheresis / 대한수혈학회지

BACKGROUND: Several kinds of adverse reactions can occur during blood donation such as vasovagal reaction (VVR), hematoma, citrate toxicity, etc. These adverse reactions are not common, but they are important because they cause a decrease in re-donation. The cost for maintaining a repeat donation is very low compared to that for securing first-time donors. Whole blood donation differs from apheresis in some aspects, and this could have an influence on blood donor reactions. We compared whole blood donation with apheresis for blood donor reactions. METHODS: From January to December in 2007 at Busan Red Cross Blood Center, 109,004 donations were investigated for blood donor reactions. 76,098 (69.8%) donations were from male donors and 32,906 (30.2%) were from females. 77,813 (71.3%) donations were for whole blood, 25,224 (23.2%) were for plasmapheresis and 5,967 (5.5%) were for plateletpheresis. RESULTS: The frequencies of VVR were 0.10% (75/77,813) for the whole blood donations, 0.15% (37/25,224) for plasmapheresis and 0.03% (2/5,967) for plateletpheresis (P<0.05). The frequency of hematoma was 0.05% (37/77,813) for whole blood donation, 0.25% (62/25,224) for plasmapheresis and 0.27% (16/5,967) for plateletpheresis (P<0.05). Citrate toxicity was extremely rare. VVR was most common in plasmapheresis, and it was rare in plateletpheresis. CONCLUSION: The kinds of donated blood components had an influence on blood donor reactions. Understanding these characteristics helps to prevent adverse reaction. Having people re-donate is essential for keeping a large sized donor pool. So, appropriate management to prevent donor reactions is very important.

The Effect of the Blood-donating Environment on Vasovagal Reaction / 대한수혈학회지

BACKGROUND: Active re-donation is important for the whole blood donation program. Preparation of the blood-collection environment to minimize vasovagal reaction (VVR) is very important because VVR is the most common factor for stopping re-donation. METHODS: From the 1st of January to the 30th of November in 2005 at Busan Red Cross Blood Center, a total 195,247 donations from 138,093 donors were investigated for VVR. RESULTS: The total frequency of VVR was 0.14%. The frequency of VVR of the group donors who donated in indoor collecting places was the highest and the next highest VVR frequency was for the outdoor donors group. Unexpectedly, the frequency of VVR was the lowest in donors who donated in a blood bus. Teenage donations of blood were most frequent, and the next were people in their twenties. The frequency of VVR was the highest in first-time donor group. The more blood donated, the less the subjects experienced VVR. CONCLUSION: To recruit and retain the blood donors, the blood collection environment should be reconsidered for the group-donors in indoor- or outdoor places and not for those in the blood bus. In these places, it is important to educate the staff and prepare the blood-collecting environment where individual attention can be given to donors of the high-risk group for preventing VVR.