Evaluation of iron status in volunteers and autologous blood donors: Are there implications for an extended blood donation age?

摘要

In accordance with European Commission Directives 2002/98/EC and 2004/33/EC, volunteer blood donor (VBD) qualification requires demonstration that the hemoglobin (Hb) level is at least 125 g/L for female donors and at least 135 g/L for male donors. However, presenting with the predefined Hb level does not exclude the presence of an iron deficiency status. In turn, iron deficiency may hamper the restoration of donated red blood cell (RBC) mass in VBDs, thus favoring iatrogenic anemia and precluding from frequent donations, as recently demonstrated by Cable and colleagues.