Myths about blood donation: is all the groups are needed, does it lead to anemia and is it possible to “get hooked” to it?

Blood donation is an important part of the medical system of any state. We decided to make out several popular stereotypes about this procedure.

First you need to figure out how blood and its donation are arranged. Blood is red liquid, circulating in arteries and veins. She consists of from plasma (liquid part) and uniforms - red blood cells, leukocytes And platelets. Plasma also contains salts and minerals (electrolytes), as well as useful proteins, including those involved in the formation of blood clots. According to the rules, blood shimmers only the recipient of the same group with the donor; It is also required that they coincide with a Rh factor. The most common system divisions - AB0, in it red blood cells are divided into four groups, if possible, attach two antigens (actually A and B). In people with group 0 (I), erythrocytes can not attach any of these antigens, with group A (II) - only the first antigen, with B (III) - only the second, and with the fourth AB (IV) - both. Also, when classification of blood, other parameters are also used, such as Rhesus and Kell factor.

The donor can take both whole blood (that is, plasma along with forms), and - using a special procedure - only platelets, red blood cells or plasma. The procedure for passing exclusively platelets called Thrombocytaferes, in this case, the blood obtained from the donor is treated in a special centrifuge, which allows to distinguish precisely the necessary elements from it, and then returned back to the donor body. The procedures of erythrocytaferes and plasmapheresis are similarly arranged.

Once there are separate procedures for a fence exclusively platelets, red blood cells and plasma, these blood components can be transplanted separately. The transfusion of erythrocyte mass is necessary for patients with a low level of hemoglobin and after volumetric blood loss, platelet - those who have problems with coagulation. Plasma overflow has many different indications, in particular vast Surgical intervention, violation redeeming blood, oncological Diseases. Also plasma ill Covid-19 Used For treatment complex cases of infection. Moreover, back in 2002, the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation reportedthat the transfusion of individual elements necessary for the patient is better than whole blood. Although 17 years later this order was canceledMost medical institutions adhere to the principle itself.

In this text, blood donation is understood to be both the donation of whole blood and the delivery of individual components, if not agreed. In turn, the term “blood transfusion” is used in terms of cases when the patient receives individual blood components from the donor.

Content of the article

• Donor blood is needed only during emergency situations
• Donors are needed only with a rare blood group
• Most of the donor blood is disposed of
• During blood subsidies, you can become infected with various diseases
• Donation is addictive
• Donation leads to the depletion of iron reserves in the body and anemia

Donor blood is needed only during emergency situations

Many Believethat donor blood Need only for the victims during Disaster - terrorist attacks or spontaneous disasters. In such moments before points change blood Build Huge queues from wish help. It is believed that in a calm time, blood transfusion is too rare procedure and large stocks of donated blood are not in demand.

By statistics, blood transfusion will be required for every third person during their lives. American Red Cross Calculatedthat in the USA someone needs transfusion every two seconds. In Russia, this procedure annually Required at least 1.5 million inhabitants, that is, more than 4,000 people per day or almost three per minute. Donor blood and its components are necessary for patients after complex operations and serious injuries, in maternity hospitals for women who have lost too much blood in the process of childbirth, for sick with anemia, thrombocytopenia and other diseases of blood formation, as well as oncological patients.

Childbirth and complex operations occur constantly, and serious diseases, including oncological, require regular treatment. That is why blood transfusion stations are called upon to take it not after some terrible disaster has occurred, but systematically.

Not true

Donors are needed only with a rare blood group

Resources, dedicated blood donation, refer this fear To the most common reasons for the fact that people do not go at the transfusion station. StoriesAs for donors With a rare blood group, they even send Helicopters, Also contribute popularization this stereotype.

As mentioned above, every year in Russia 1.5 million people Need In blood transfusion and its components. According to the statistics of the Almazov National Medical Research Center, the distribution of groups among the population Such: 0 (I) - 43%, A (II) - 42%, B (III) - 11%, AB (IV) - 4%. Moreover, there are no certain pathologies in which blood transfusion would be required and which would manifest only in people with a certain group, so we can assume that the distribution of patients who need transfusion is about the same. This means that in a year blood and its components in Russia requires about 645,000 people with the first blood group (0), 630,000 - with the second (A), 165,000 - with the third (c), 60,000 - with the fourth.

These calculations are simplified in nature, since when transfusing It is taken into account Not only a blood type in the classification of AB0, but also other parameters, such as a Rh factor. In simplified Understanding This is the presence or absence on the surface of red blood cells (red blood cells) Rhesus antigenes. Among them, the most powerful immunogenic properties are antigen D - precisely on possibilities Erythrocytes are attached to it by Rh-positive and Rh-negative. If on this basis the blood of the donor and the recipient does not coincide, then in the vast majority of cases the transfusion will lead to complications. Antigens C, C, E and E are less immunogenic, but nevertheless, most people have at least one of them.

The most rare, the so-called "gold", a blood group in a scientific is called Rhnull. Its owners on the surface of red blood cells have no Rhesus antigen at all, which makes this blood the most rare on the planet. In 2022 in the world There was Only 43 people with "golden" blood, nine of which Actively pass it. It turns out that one such donor accounts for a little less than five potential (and not really needing now) recipients. If donors and potential recipients on a scale, for example, Russia, were in the same way, then there would be 30 million people in the donor register (blood in 2022 passed 1.4 million Russians).

Thus, people with “gold” blood are provided with donor material much better than those who have a more common group. In addition, the more common a blood group in the population is, the more blood this group is needed.

Not true

Most of the donor blood is disposed of

In addition to the belief that their blood is not needed, people from donation are often repels The idea that blood donation is enough Useless The procedure, since significant part of the material collected do not have time to use and simply Throw away. Resources About blood transfusion and Transfusion doctors This is a fear among the most common myths about donation.

Donor blood is too valuable substance to, having committed the fence procedure, soon send it to the garbage bucket. In addition, blood is not a perishable product. The most “short -lived” components are red blood cells, they are suitable only for 42 days after the fence, and the prepared plasma can be used after three years.

However, in some cases, blood and its components can really be disposed of-for example, red blood cells obtained from Kell-positive donor (in the body of Kell-Great recipient they will cause extremely severe consequences). At the same time, Kell-positive person is still Maybe To be a donor of plasma, platelets or cryoperprette (a blood component that contributes to the formation of a fibrin clot and therefore necessary for transfusion to patients with hemophilia).

Classification of blood Kell system Similar to the division by Rh factor-antigens on the surface of red blood cells also play a key role. The most significant of the antigens of this system is the antigen k, which Found less than 10% of people. However, unlike the Rhesus, the positive or negative of the patient by Kell is rarely determined in ordinary life. For example, by hospitalizing the patient for surgery, the doctor will most likely provide for the potential need to transfuse blood and its components, but will determine only the group and the Rh factor. Most people are high-negative, like all the blood in donor banks; If such a blood is poured by a Kell-positive person, no unwanted reactions will occur. Therefore, only donors and encountered some complications during pregnancy of a woman usually know their Kell factor (if certain pathologies are possible in the mother and fetus, certain pathologies are possible).

They also dispose of blood and any components prepared from it if the donor does not come to the mandatory re -pass test. The blood taken from the donor is required Explore on hepatitis B and C, syphilis and HIV. However, if the infection occurred shortly before the material, then there will still be no traces of the infection in the sample (for example, for HIV “window period”, when the virus has already entered the body, but is not yet determined in the blood, It is Three months). That is why from primary donors demand re -take tests, usually they are prescribed through four or six months after blood donation. If the donor did not come at the indicated time, then the blood taken from him and its components are disposed of. The same thing happens if the tests of hepatitis B or C, syphilis or HIV are found in the analyzes.

There are no other significant reasons for the disposal of already collected donor blood. However, in history there were cases when it was harvested too much and subsequently the part was destroyed. The largest scandalAssociated with the excess blank of donor blood, occurred after the attacks on September 11, 2001 in the United States. Then the Red Cross urged the Americans to become donors, and hundreds of thousands of people responded. As it turned out later, although a huge amount of blood was prepared, not all of it turned out to be suitable: the organization did not have enough technical reserves to freeze and preserve the entire donated volume. In addition, most of the victims received injuries incompatible with life, and they simply did not need donor blood. This situation also illustrates the thesis presented above - it is better not to guess blood donation under a large tragedy, but to take it regularly.

Most of the untruth

During blood subsidies, you can become infected with various diseases

Many in donation scares away probability infect During the procedure, various dangerous diseases such as HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B and S. about Such fears among potential donors regularly Report centers transfusion blood.

As mentioned above, before donating blood, potential donors pass tests for viral hepatitis B and C, HIV and syphilis, and they will be allowed to the procedure only if the tests show a negative result. Moreover, repeated analyzes are also provided, until the results of which the plasma surrendered, where the viruses may potentially contain, is on the quarantine (according to Russian lawsit lasts 120 days). So the likelihood that viral agents of diseases transmitted to donated blood will be hemone -contact The way is minimized.

Even lower than the risk of something to become infected for the donor himself, if he comes to the station healthy. For blood sampling Used A special sterile needle connected to a one -time bag, which is supplied in a sealed bag. After the procedure is completed, this bag is fixed, and the needle can no longer be used again. If a medical worker follows all protocols and does not have intent to specially infect a donor or recipient with any disease, the likelihood of such adverse consequences strives for zero.

Not true

Donation is addictive

Distributed The opinion is that organism gradually gets used to it to regular Bloodfish And starts To develop More blood than he needs. Therefore, regular donors are not so much people who are aware of the importance of donation, but literally "hooked on the needle." To designate such a problem even Use The phrase "chronic donation syndrome."

To understand whether such a syndrome can, in principle, be found out how the body functions in conditions of regular blood donation. The hematopoietic system of a person does not know how to work “with a margin”, that is, the body is not able to adapt and develop blood for a few months for several months. The volume that is taken from the donor, It is seized from circulating blood - that is why importantIn order for the donor to have sufficient body weight, the adequate level of hemoglobin was not exhausted by the disease. Typically, at the transfusion station, 450 ml of blood is taken from one person at a time, that is, approximately 10% of all contained in the body (an average of 4.5–5 l of blood). There are no data for regular donors four to six months after surrender to the volume increased to 5-5.5 liters. The restoration of the donated volume takes some time: in one or two days will recover The liquid part of the blood (plasma), and its components You will need it up to a month.

In addition, there are strict rules that regulate the intervals between the bloodstreams. In Russia, men allowed To donate whole blood no more than five times a year, women are no more than four. Similar mandatory pauses between subsidies are installed for those who want to regularly pass individual blood components. If the organisms of donors could study and produce blood with a margin, these intervals would not be needed.

At the same time, donation, like other altruistic actions, can cause a person to satisfy and a sense of his own usefulness. Scientists from the University of Witten / Herdeck (Germany) Studied The psychological state of those who regularly donate blood, and found out that on average they feel happier and satisfied with life than representatives of their socio-economic group who do not visit the transfusion stations.

Not true

Donation leads to the depletion of iron reserves in the body and anemia

Moreover, Distributed fear that blood donation Expands The reserves of iron iron are so strong that the donor develops anemia.

Anemia is state, which occurs due to a decrease in the number of red blood cells and impaired function of the hemoglobin protein contained in them. Hemoglobin allows you to transfer oxygen from the lungs and deliver it to all parts of the body; If this protein is not enough, a person suffers from oxygen starvation. Anemia is not a specific disease, but a symptom characteristic of many other pathologies and disorders. It can occur during pregnancy, with cancer, various infections. Typically, three causes of anemia are distinguished: extensive blood loss, insufficient erythrocyte production and excessive destruction of red blood cells.

To create hemoglobin to the body Required iron. Normally, after the death of red blood cells, iron from it remains in the body and is used again to create a new protein. However, during blood fence, red blood cells leave the body along with iron contained in them. One subsidies - 450 ml - sees From the body 200–250 mg of this substance. This is a fairly significant volume, since on the day a person is on average capable To absorb only 1-2 mg of iron. Therefore, scientists are seriously concerned about the probability of iron deficiency anemia in donors.

In 2012, American scientists under the auspices of the Red Cross Spent The study of 2425 blood donors, both primary and regular. According to the results of two -year observations of these donors, it turned out that regular blood exploration leads to the development of iron deficiency in about half of men and two -thirds of women, if they do not take special drugs. In 2013, a similar study organized Dutch scientists - they observed 5280 blood donors and estimated an increase in the risk of anemia in 5–25% depending on the analyzed parameter. Even larger groups of donors studied Canadian And Danish scientists. The former evaluated a sample of 12,595 donors, and the latter-another 15 197. Both studies showed that constant donors have a higher risk of lack of iron in the body, young women who lose iron are especially susceptible to this due to regular menstruation. All experts agree that the risk of iron deficiency and the development of anemia for donors is higher than on average in the population.

At the same time, donation does not necessarily lead to such undesirable effects. Anemia is also facilitated by many other factors, in particular the poor diet. That is why resources About transfusion blood constantly write The fact that donors should eat in a variety of, and minimum temporary intervals between subsidies are established to restore their body. Also, no one will allow a person with low hemoglobin and anemia to donate donor blood, analysis to determine these indicators - Mandatory Part of preparation for the procedure.

Thus, the chance of developing anemia among donors is really higher than on average in the population, however, blood transfusion stations are interested in the good state of the health of these people, so they will take all the interim measures and explain how to increase the level of iron in the body.

Half truth

What do our verdicts mean?

Image on the cover: Image by Michelle Gordon from Pixabay

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