Blood donation and donors: insights from a large German teaching hospital (2008–2017)

Abstract

Background and objectives The availability of blood and blood products is crucial for the provision of high-quality hospital services. We analyse changes in whole blood donations, donors and their behaviour over 9 years at a large German teaching hospital.Materials and methods A descriptive analysis using data from over 34 000 donors and 265 000 donations from a large university hospital's blood centre was conducted using data from July 2008 to December 2017. The analysis focussed on (a) whole blood donations and (b) donor characteristics and how they changed over time. We categorized donors into four categories according to their donation activity (First-Time, Highly Active, Active and Reactivated).Results We observed falling donations over time and that donors donated less frequently. Consequently, we show a downward trend in the number of Highly Active donors, whilst First-Time donors remained stable. We also provide evidence that donors donated well below their capacity and that the blood type of donors appeared to be in line with the wider German donor population. Lastly, we show a sharp drop in the return rates of First-Time donors over time.Conclusion We recommend that Highly Active donors and former Highly Active donors are more carefully considered when planning donor engagement strategies and effort made in (at the very least) maintaining their donation activity. Our results in the context of the literature highlight the need for further research into the changing attitudes towards blood donation and prosocial activities.

National level adjustments to the challenges of the SARS‐CoV2 pandemic on blood banking operations

“…Returning blood donors are characterized by substantially higher commitment and motivation 21 which is also illustrated by our data (Figure 2(A)). In June 2020, an unequivocal rise among "highly repeat" donors offset the minor declines among other donors and translated to a full recovery of donor activity compared to 2019.…”

“…A possible explanation for the above differences may be that women may generally be more prone to altruistic attitudes. These data further emphasize the importance of returning donors and can be taken into consideration if public relations efforts and valuable resources must be allocated toward certain target populations 21 …”

“…These data further emphasize the importance of returning donors and can be taken into consideration if public relations efforts and valuable resources must be allocated toward certain target populations. 21 The primary major RBC concentrate users, elective surgical interventions were halted between the second half of March and end of May 2020. Our data (Figure 3) reflect these changes with a dramatic decline in RBC utilization (number of issued RBC products) in the three spring lockdown-affected months averaging to more than 25%.…”

Blood donation in times of crisis: Early insight into the impact of COVID‐19 on blood donors and their motivation to donate across European countries

“…As has been observed in a German setting, many donors prefer to visit at lunchtime and after work in normal times [28]. We speculate that, in addition to perceived infection risk, other factors contributed to a drop in donations that warrant further research.…”

Development of a Lyophilization Process for Long-Term Storage of Albumin-Based Perfluorodecalin-Filled Artificial Oxygen Carriers

“…Blood donations are required to obtain the needed allogenic erythrocyte concentrates (ECs). However, while the need for ECs is rising due to demographic changes, the willingness to donate blood is declining [1]. Furthermore, the EC's use is still linked to risks such as transmissible pathogens and transfusion reactions [2,3].…”