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Cortisol and heart rate changes in first- and fourth-time donors
P Bellitti1, R Valeriano, M Gasperi
1Istituto di Endocrinologia, Università di Pisa, Italia.
Insights
First-time blood donors may experience moderate stress, indicated by hormonal changes like cortisol levels and heart rate, primarily due to emotional factors rather than the donation itself. Experienced donors show no such stress responses.
Area of Science:
- Physiology
- Endocrinology
- Psychoneuroimmunology
Background:
- Blood donation can elicit stress reactions, particularly in novice donors.
- Subtle hormonal variations may occur even without apparent clinical stress responses.
- Cortisol is a key hormone associated with the body's stress response.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate cortisol level changes in blood donors who do not exhibit clinical signs of stress.
- To differentiate between emotional and physical stress factors during blood donation.
Main Methods:
- Evaluated 20 blood donors (aged 25-45) before and after their first and fourth donations.
- Measured plasma cortisol concentrations, blood pressure, and heart rate.
- Compared physiological responses between first-time and experienced donors.
Main Results:
- Plasma cortisol significantly decreased after the first donation but not the fourth.
- Heart rate decreased significantly during the first donation only.
- Blood pressure remained stable throughout the donation process.
- Elevated pre-donation cortisol levels were observed in first-time donors, absent in experienced ones.
Conclusions:
- Blood donation itself is not inherently a stressful event.
- Initial stress responses, including elevated cortisol and heart rate, are likely secondary to emotional factors associated with the novel experience.
- Physiological stress markers diminish with repeated blood donation experiences.
Abstract:
It is well-known that during blood donation some subjects experience mild, moderate, or severe stress reactions. The frequency of these reactions is higher in first-time donors than in experienced ones. However, hormonal variations might nevertheless be present in subjects who show no clinical reaction. Cortisol is the hormone classically involved in response to stress. The aim of this study was to evaluate cortisol behavior in blood donors who did not manifest clinical reaction. Cortisol was studied before and after the first and fourth blood donation in 20 blood donors, aged 25-45 years. Blood pressure and heart rate were also evaluated. Plasma cortisol concentrations decreased during the first (from 202.6 +/- 9.2 ng/ml at -15 min, to 147.5 +/- 8.0 ng/ml, at +30 min; p < 0.001), but not during the fourth (142.5 +/- 7 ng/ml vs. 153.0 +/- 10.1 ng/ml) blood donation; blood pressure remained stable throughout donations, while the heart rate significantly decreased (from 78 to 68 beats/min; p < 0.001) only during the first experience. The increased cortisol levels observed before the first donation are apparently due to emotional components, since they were not observed in experienced donors. We may conclude that blood donation per se is not a stressful event and that moderate stress, as suggested by the increased cortisol levels and heart rate at the first donation, is secondary to emotional rather than to physical factors and occurs during a never-experienced-before event.