During 2022 we received 196 reports of adverse effects in blood donors, of whom 159 were systemic reactions and 37 were local reactions.
Syncope with or without trauma made up 126 of the reports. Syncopes were most commonly reported in young female blood donors. Of these incidents 46 led to deferral of the blood donor. Furthermore, there were 22 reports of syncopes where the adverse reaction occurred after the donor had left the blood bank. In 12 of these cases the donor was deferred. In addition to the 126 syncopes there were reports of 28 cases of vasovagal reactions without syncope, 2 cases of citrate reactions and 3 cases of other systemic adverse effects. Of the local reactions reported during 2022 there were 14 with nerve irritation, 17 other local pain and 6 other local adverse effects.
In 15 reports the consequence of the adverse effect is classified as “substantial”. These were 10 cases of nerve irritation, 2 cases of other local pain, 2 syncope with or without trauma and 1 other systemic adverse effects. In 32 cases (16 %) the duration of the adverse effect was less than 15 minutes. In 34 (17 %) cases long-term morbidity (defined as symptoms lasting at least 1 week) was reported, and in 2 of these the donor was experiencing symptoms even after more than 6 months.
In 25 cases (13 %) no treatment was undertaken. In the majority of the cases (135; 69 %) the blood donor was treated by the local blood bank staff. In 18 cases the donor was referred to a medical specialist, in 17 cases the donor was observed at the ER and in 1 case the donor was admitted to hospital. There were 6 cases where the donor was reported sick for 1 day, 2 cases where the donor was reported sick for 2-7 days, 2 cases where the donor was reported sick for 8-14 days and 1 case where the donor was reported sick for >4 weeks. In 60 cases the donor was deferred from further blood donations.
Compared to 2021 we received 33 more reports. In overall, actual consequence for cases reported in 2022 seems to be a little more severe compared to reports received during 2021. More donors received sick leaves, more donors were referred to other specialists and more donors were deferred from further blood donations. Whether or not this represents an actual trend or other random factors such as a higher number of total blood donations, alterations in how reports are filled out or other factors is impossible to conclude with certainty.