Impact of regular blood donation on the human body; donors’ perspective. Donors’ opinion on side effects of regular blood donation on human body

Streszczenie

Introduction. Voluntary blood donation refers to ”unpaid, non-remunerated” donation of blood by healthy people for those who require blood transfusion. Recently in Poland, there is an observed decrease in the number of blood donations which, among others, may be ascribed to demographic changes and epidemics of various diseases but also to myths, prejudice and misconceptions regarding the act of donating blood. The most objective source of opinion on the subject are the donors themselves. The study aim was to explore the opinions of blood donors regarding the impact of regular blood donation on the human body as well as their experience related to blood donation. Material and methods. The method of a diagnostic opinion survey was used with a questionnaire developed for the purpose of the study. The questionnaire consisted of 6 closed-ended and 5 sociodemographic questions. It was completed by 2387 blood donors (responders). The IBM SPSS Statistics 20 program was used for predictive analytics and calculations. The statistical significance was established at p ≤ 0.05. Results. In the opinion of most responders (78.3%) one cannot get addictive to blood donation. The majority of blood donors (85.2%) believe that no increased production of red blood cells (RBCs) in bone marrow occurs as result of regular blood donations. As the greatest health benefit for the donor himself, 81.4% of the responders declared the boosted/enhanced sense of well-being as result of offering one’s own blood to other people. Conclusions. The knowledge and experience of voluntary blood donors should be carefully considered by organizers of blood-promotion campaigns. The conviction that no side effects are associated with long term blood donation gets stronger with the increase in the volume of donated blood. Altruism was the most frequently declared motive for donating blood.