Anemia and latent iron deficiency in frequent plasma donors

A lot of works have been devoted to the development of iron deficiency in blood donors. However, this issue has not been sufficiently disclosed in plasma donors. The aim of this paper was to study the development of latent iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia in active plasma donors. Materials and Methods. The authors carried out a prospective study on the basis of the Ulyanovsk Regional Blood Transfusion Station from 2016 to 2019. The study included 259 plasma donors, who were divided into 2 groups: frequent plasma donors (n=127), and rare plasma donors (n=132). Before donating plasma, blood was collected from all donors for complete blood count and serum iron test. The results of the test were considered as baseline parameters. Similar bloodwork results obtained one year from the starting point served as the final results of the trial. Statistica v. 8.0 (StatSoft Inc., USA) was used for statistical analysis. Results. There were no significant differences in total blood counts between the groups one year after the first donation. Anemia was found in 10 frequent donors (7.9 %), and in 5 rare donors (3.8 %) (χ2=1.981, p=0.159). Latent iron deficiency was found in 22 frequent donors (17.3 %) and 15 rare donors (11.4 %) (χ2=1.877, p=0.171). There was an increase in anemia and latent iron deficiency in frequent donors, while only increased anemia was observed in rare donors. Conclusion. Thus, frequent plasma donations can lead to the development of latent iron deficiency and anemia.