Worldwide policies on epilepsy and blood donation: a survey among blood services

Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder characterized by the appearance of seizures. Often, epilepsy patients are temporarily or permanently excluded from blood donation. To gain a better understanding of the policies that are currently applied, we performed a survey among blood services.

A cross-sectional, Web-based questionnaire using the online Questback tool was developed and distributed to 46 representatives of blood services worldwide. The questionnaire was composed of nine questions.

A total of 27 respondents, representing blood services in 26 countries on five continents, participated in the survey. Current policies range from permanent acceptance over temporary exclusion to permanent exclusion. Rationales for these different policies are diverse. The majority of blood services (59·3%) apply temporary exclusion as their policy, though no consensus exists on the length of time that epilepsy patients have to be medication-free or seizure-free. None of the respondents could provide data about adverse events in epilepsy patients during the blood donation process.

The results of this survey indicate a large discrepancy in policies applied worldwide. A lack of scientific evidence could be one of the underlying reasons. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to further research the potential risks for donors and recipients regarding blood donation by people with epilepsy. This can then serve as a base for evidence-based policymaking and lead to safer and more effective blood transfusion programmes.