Pain following blood donation: a questionnaire study of long‐term morbidity (LTM) in blood donors. Issue 1 (31st March 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sørensen, B. S.; Jørgensen, J.; Jensen, T. S.; Finnerup, N. B.
• Is Part Of: Vox sanguinis. Volume 109:Issue 1(2015)
• Page Start: 18
• Page End: 24
• Publication Date: 2015-03-31
• Subjects: Blood -- Periodicals; Blood -- Transfusion -- Periodicals; Immunohematology -- Periodicals; Immunopathology -- Periodicals; 615.39
• DOI: 10.1111/vox.12245
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0042-9007

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="vox12245-abs-0001"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <sec id="vox12245-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Background</title> <p>Nerve injury is a main cause of long‐term morbidity following blood donation, but little is known about symptoms, impact, prognosis and underlying cause.</p> </sec> <sec id="vox12245-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Materials and Methods</title> <p>A questionnaire, designed to characterize pain and estimate the prevalence of neuropathic pain, was sent to all blood donors registered with a complication related to 3 297 674 blood donations in Denmark from 2000–2009, with a local complication mainly characterized by pain, with severity grade 'long‐term morbidity' and imputability grade 'definite' or 'probably'.</p> </sec> <sec id="vox12245-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>The questionnaire was sent to 152 donors (4·6 per 100 000 donations). Response rate was 88/152 (57·9%). At the time of the questionnaire, which was between 12 months and 10 years after the blood donation, 69/88, who responded (78·4%) still experienced symptoms. Of the 69 donors with persistent symptom, pain occurred in 51 donors (74%) was moderate to severe in 24/69 donors (35%) and had an impact on daily activity in 17/69 (25%). Neuropathic pain was estimated to be the underlying cause of symptom in 30–52% of the 69 donors with persistent symptoms, using three different systems for estimation, corresponding to 0·6–1·1/100 000 donations.</p> </sec> <sec id="vox12245-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Discussion</title> <p>Although a rare complication, nerve injury after blood donation may lead to long‐term morbidity and may become chronic in a small proportion of donors. The most common symptoms are pain, and we estimate that neuropathic pain can be the underlying cause.</p> </sec> </abstract>