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Prediction of Vasovagal Reactions in Whole Blood Donors Using a Scoring System

January 17, 2024

Previous studies have identified risk factors for vasovagal reactions (VVRs) in blood donors, including young age, female sex, lower body weight, lower estimated blood volume, and being a first-time donor. Researchers have developed a scoring system to help determine the relative importance of each of the risk factors and predict donors most at risk for pre-syncopal and syncopal symptoms in Japan. Using data from over 577,000 whole blood donations in 2019 and 2020 (0.50% experienced VVRs), the permutation variable importance for each risk factor for VVRs was determined and then tested. The most important variable was donor status (first time donors and donors with a history of VVR) followed by age, estimated blood volume and height. Based on a scoring system which weights each variable, researchers were able to predict those donors with a greater likelihood of experiencing pre-syncopal and syncopal symptoms.  Those with the lowest scores had VVR rates of 0.09% compared to those with the highest scores who had VVR rates of 3.11%.  By predicting which donors have a higher likelihood of experiencing syncopal symptoms, blood centers may be able to mitigate the negative impact of VVRs on donor well-being and likelihood of return.

Reference:

Hashizume T, Kondo G, Ishimaru F, Ikeda Y, Kagawa K, Kunii N, et al. Development and validation of a scoring system to predict vasovagal reaction upon whole-blood donation. Vox Sang. 2023

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