2. English summary

During 2021 we received 163 reports of adverse effects in blood donors. There were 137 systemic reactions and 26 local reactions.

Syncope with or without trauma made up 110 of the reports. Syncopes were most commonly reported in young female blood donors. Of these incidents 19 led to deferral of the blood donor. Furthermore, there were 19 reports of syncopes where the adverse reaction occurred after the donor had left the blood bank. In 2 of these cases the donor was deferred. In addition to 110 syncopes there were reports of 21 cases of vasovagal reactions without syncope, 2 cases of citrate reactions and 4 cases of other systemic adverse effects. Of the local reactions reported during 2021 there were 7 nerve irritation, 5 other local pain and 14 other local adverse effects.

In 8 reports the consequence of the adverse effect is classified as “substantial”. These were 3 nerve irritation, 1 other local reaction, 2 syncope with or without trauma, 1 citrate reaction and 1 other systemic adverse effects. In more than 1/3 of all reports the duration of the adverse effect was less than 15 minutes. In 16 cases long-term morbidity (defined as symptoms lasting at least 1 week) was reported, and in 1 of these the donor was experiencing symptoms even after more than 6 months.

In most cases (128; 79 %) the blood donor was treated by the local blood bank staff. In 2 cases the donor was referred to a medical specialist, in 14 cases the donor was observed at the ER and in 2 cases the donor was admitted to hospital. There were 3 cases where the donor was reported sick for 1 day and 2 cases where the donor was reported sick for 2-7 days. In 28 cases the donor was deferred from further blood donations.