A retrospective study assessing the characteristics of COVID‐19 convalescent plasma donors and donations

Abstract

Background Although many trials are currently investigating the safety and efficacy of convalescent plasma (CP) in critically ill COVID‐19 patients, there is a paucity of ongoing and published studies evaluating the CP donors' side. This retrospective study reports the first Italian experience on CP donors' selection and donations. Methods Patients aged 18‐68 years who had recovered from COVID‐19 at least 2 weeks previously were recruited between March 18 and June 30, 2020 in a study protocol at the Italian hospitals of Pavia and Mantova. Results During the study period, 494 of 512 donors recruited were judged eligible and underwent 504 plasmapheresis procedures. Eighty‐five percent (437/512) of the CP donors were males. The average time between symptom recovery and CP donation was 36.6 (±20.0) days. Four hundred and eighty‐eight plasmapheresis procedures (96.8%) were concluded and each unit was divided into two subunits (total 976) with an average volume of 316.2 (±22.7) mL. Ninety‐three percent (460/494) of CP donors at the time of plasma donation had a neutralizing IgG titer ≥1:80. Plasmapheresis‐related adverse reactions occurred in 2.6% (13/504) of cases; all the reactions were mild and none required therapeutic intervention. Donors' age and COVID‐19 severity were positively associated with greater antibody responses. Conclusion This study demonstrates the feasibility and safety of a pilot CP program conducted in Italy. The identification of factors (ie, age and severity of COVID‐19) positively associated with higher neutralizing antibody titers at the time of donation may help to optimize the selection of CP donors.

WITHDRAWN: Knowledge and Attitudes of Young Adults Towards Donation of COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma and Its Therapeutic Properties

“…Under these circumstances, much depends on the knowledge and attitudes of potential CP donors. In some countries, such as Italy, there have been dramatic situations due to the lack of CP donors, especially when national law does not provide any compensation for these services 11 . Based on this example, we understand why currently the collection process and transfusion of plasma derived from patients who have fully recovered from COVID-19 is of wide spread interest, both nationally and internationally.…”

Donor tolerability of convalescent plasma donation

“…To encourage convalescent plasma donation and ensure adequate convalescent plasma inventory, it is important to evaluate donor tolerability of convalescent plasma donation. There have been few studies observing the rates of adverse reactions related to convalescent plasma donation 10 . While we confirmed the overall safety of convalescent plasma donation in this study, the occurrence of adverse reactions in our study was higher than that of routine plasmapheresis donation based on the information from the Wuhan Blood Center (5.2% vs <0.1%) 11 .…”

Clinical predictors of SARS‐CoV‐2 neutralizing antibody titers in COVID‐19 convalescents: Implications for convalescent plasma donor recruitment

“…Although it has been proposed that higher antibody levels in male and older patients simply relate to COVID‐19 severity, 19 their model proposes that they remain associated with higher nAb titer levels after adjusting for hospitalization. In the largest study published so far by Del Fante and colleagues on 494 Italian CCP donors, the nAb titer was found to correlate positively with age and disease severity and negatively with female sex 20 …”