Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 29, 2025
Treatment of Platelet Products with Riboflavin and UV Light: Effectiveness Against High Titer Bacterial Contamination
Published on: August 24, 2015
Exploring the unseen effect of COVID 19 pandemic on blood transfusion services in a tertiary care centre
Paramjit Kaur1, Ravneet Kaur Bedi1, Kshitija Mittal1
1Department of Transfusion Medicine, Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh, India.
Insights
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly reduced blood donations and increased transfusion-transmitted infections (TTI), particularly among replacement donors. Building a donor database is crucial for future blood supply resilience.
Area of Science:
- Transfusion Medicine
- Infectious Diseases
- Public Health
Background:
- The COVID-19 pandemic presented significant challenges to blood transfusion services globally.
- Assessing the pandemic's impact on blood donation, utilization, and transfusion-transmitted infections (TTI) is critical for maintaining blood safety.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on blood transfusion services.
- To determine changes in blood donation patterns, utilization, and TTI seroprevalence during the pandemic.
Main Methods:
- A retrospective cross-sectional study analyzed data from March-September 2020 and 2021.
- Data on blood donation, utilization, plateletpheresis, and TTI seroprevalence were compared to pre-pandemic years.
- Retrieved data from institutional software for analysis.
Main Results:
- Blood donations decreased by 53.79% in 2020 and 34.4% in 2021, with a notable drop in voluntary donations.
- Replacement donors increased significantly, showing higher TTI prevalence (p<0.001).
- TTI seroprevalence rose from 1.01% pre-pandemic to 1.49% in 2020 and 1.51% in 2021, with increases in Syphilis, HBsAg, and HCV.
Conclusions:
- The COVID-19 pandemic has serious implications for blood safety.
- Strengthening the database of regular voluntary blood donors is essential for managing future health crises and ensuring a stable blood supply.
Background:
The coronavirus pandemic confronted blood transfusion services with major challenges. The present study was conducted to explore the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on blood transfusion services including seroprevalence of transfusion-transmitted infections.
Material And Methods:
A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted and data on blood donation, utilization, camps, plateletpheresis and seroprevalence of transfusion-transmitted infections (TTI) was retrieved from software from March to September 2020 and 2021 and compared with corresponding time periods of three preceding non-pandemic years.
Results:
There was a decline of 53.79% and 34.4% in blood donations in 2020 and 2021 respectively with a significant reduction in voluntary donations from 91.8% in the pre-pandemic period to 72.2% in 2020 and 77.7% in 2021. Replacement donors increased by 60.81% and 72.89% in 2020 and 2021 respectively. There was a decline of 48.4% in the number of plateletpheresis procedures in 2020 which increased in 2021 during the dengue outbreak. The decline in total blood donations and issue of packed red blood cells was statistically significant but supply and demand were balanced with no deficit. TTI seroprevalence increased from 1.01% to 1.49%(p<0.001) and 1.51%(p<0.001) in 2020 and 2021 respectively. Replacement donors showed a significantly higher TTI prevalence as compared to voluntary donors(p<0.001). A significant increase in prevalence was observed for Syphilis (0.4%) in 2020 and HBsAg (0.54%), HCV(0.63%) and syphilis (0.25%) in 2021.
Conclusion:
The potential consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on blood safety cannot be undermined. Developing a strong database of regular voluntary donors can be instrumental in dealing with future waves and surges in infections.
More Related Videos
05:23Continuous Manual Exchange Transfusion for Patients with Sickle Cell Disease: An Efficient Method to Avoid Iron Overload
Published on: March 14, 2017
07:24A Precision Medicine Tool for Measurement and Monitoring of Hemoglobin S in Sickle Cell Disease Patients Receiving Transfusion Therapy
Related Concept Videos
02:45Blood Transfusion and Agglutination
History
The history of blood transfusion dates back to the 17th century, when early attempts were made in animals. In 1818 James Blundell, a British doctor, performed the first successful human blood transfusion. Later in 1900, Karl...
01:15Blood Transfusion
Blood Transfusion Overview
A blood transfusion is a medical procedure used to replace blood lost due to injury, surgery, or to treat conditions such as anemia or cancer. During a transfusion, donor blood is...
01:29Issues And Trends In Healthcare Delivery System
Cost Containment
Payment for healthcare services has historically promoted adoption of costly and often unnecessary or inefficient...
01:25Transmission-based Precautions II: Airborne and Protective Environment
Airborne precautions:
Use airborne precautions when treating patients known or suspected to have diseases that spread through the air—for example, tuberculosis or measles. These organisms are present in smaller droplets expelled by an infected person and...
01:24Tissue Transplantation
The Biology of Tissue Transplantation
The biology of tissue transplantation hinges on the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) molecules. These molecules...
01:24Factors Affecting Erythropoiesis
Several factors influence the erythrocyte production rate, with tissue oxygen level being among the most critical. Intense exercise or high altitudes can cause tissue hypoxia, which triggers the kidneys to release more erythropoietin (EPO) into the bloodstream.
EPO then...