Mitigating adverse reactions in youthful donors

摘要

In 2004, only 6 states in the United States permitted 16-year-olds to donate blood and 5 of these required parental consent.1 As of July 2008, 29 states, with 4 pending, allowed 16-year-olds to donate including 2 that do not require parental consent; [Correction added after online publication 6-Aug-2008.] at least 6 are considering such permissive legislation (Matt Granato, personal communication). Although expansion of the prospective donor pool to include younger donors is an important step toward enhancing the blood supply, two articles published in the current issue of TRANSFUSION23 and one that appeared recently in JAMA4 remind us that this transition does not come without a cost#