Surveillance of blood in Norway. Blood donor complications 2011
Report
|Updated
The purpose of this report is to form the knowledge basis for the continuous improvement of the transfusion services. This report is about complications in blood donors.
Key message
The Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services runs the Norwegian Haemovigilance System on behalf of the Norwegian Directorate of Health. One of our tasks is to publish annual reports. The purpose of this report is to form the knowledge basis for the continuous improvement of the transfusion services. This report is about complications in blood donors.
We received 179 reports of complications in blood donors in 2011 (82 complications per 100 000 blood donations), 144 systemic and 37 local complications. In two cases the blood donor suffered from both systemic and local reactions.
In six cases the complication was defined as serious according to the definitions in the European blood directive (2.7 per 100 000 blood donations). According to the definitions proposed by the Norwegian Haemovigilance Working Group (2), a total of 60 events were defined as serious (27.7 per 100 000 blood donations).
In most of the reports the blood donor did not need medical treatment other than symptomatic treatment at the donation centre. Among the systemic complications, there were 112 reports on donor fainting (51 per 100 000 blood donations) and 24 reports on vasovagal reactions without fainting (11 per 100 000 blood donations). In three cases the donor was injured because of the fainting. As in previous reports, a high number of syncopes occurred outside the donation site. Eight other cases of non vasovagal systemic reactions were reported, four cases of long-term weakness, two reports on possible cardiac symptoms related to donation, one citrate reaction and one case of long-term headache after blood donation.
We received eleven cases of nerve injury (5 per 100 000 blood donations). In six cases the blood donor still had symptoms one week after donation. In three cases the donor was examined by a neurologist. None of the affected donors were permanently deferred as a consequence of the nerve complication. In addition, 16 reports of haematoma, with or without pain, were reported, as well as six cases of painful arm and one case of long-lasting bleeding after aphaeresis donation.
In 21 cases (18 local complications and three systemic complications) the duration of symptoms was more than one week (10 per 100 000 complications). Long time morbidity was mainly caused by local complications such as haematomas, nerve injuries or arm pain.
Female blood donors have about twice the risk of complications as males. This is mainly due to systemic reactions. Young donors seem to have higher risk for serious complications, and first time donors have at least four times higher risk of complications than repeat donors, mainly vasovagal reactions.
In six cases the blood donor needed a sick leave as a result of the complication: Three cases due to syncope (two of them with trauma), one case of haematoma with pain and two cases of painful arm. In 18 cases (8 per 100 000 blood donations) the donors needed a medical consultation (from another doctor than the physician at the blood bank) as a result of the complication.
In 138 cases the blood donor was treated at the donation site. In twelve cases the donor needed to remain at the hospital for several hours for medical observation, mainly due to a vasovagal reaction with or without fainting.
In additional 29 cases the blood donor received medical or symptomatic support at other sites than the hospital or the blood bank, mainly by relatives at home, at work or by the general practitioner on duty.
In 22 cases the blood donor was permanently deferred as a consequence of the incident (10 per 100 000 blood donations).
This report contains case reports that may be instructive.
This report should be read in combination with the 2010 reports and other reports from 2011.