A single-centre study of vasovagal reaction in blood donors: Influence of age, sex, donation status, weight, total blood volume and volume of blood collected

CONTEXT: Vasovagal reactions (VVRs) in blood donors. AIM: To find an association of age, sex, donation status, weight, total blood volume and volume of blood collected with occurrence of immediate VVR. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Retrospective single-centre study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted from March 2000 to November 2010 at a tertiary care blood transfusion centre. All VVRs with or without syncope occurring during or at the end of donation were noted. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: For qualitative association, c(2)-test was used. Unpaired ‘t’ test was used for assessing difference between two groups with respect to VVR status. Simultaneous impact of all risk factors was assessed using multivariate logistic regression analysis. The data entry software SPSS (version 17.0) was used for statistical analysis. A P-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Overall 1085 VVRs were reported in relation to 88,201 donations, resulting in an overall VVR rate of 1.23%, that is, an incidence of 1 in every 81 donations. Donors with low blood volume, first-time donors, with low weight and female donors had higher absolute donation VVR rates than other donors. CONCLUSIONS: Donation-related vasovagal syncopal reactions are a multifactorial process determined largely by weight, age, first-time donor status and total blood volume. Our study reinforces the fact that blood donation is a very safe procedure, which could be made even more event-free by following certain friendly, reassuring practices and by ensuring strict pre-donation screening procedures.