Study probes iron deficiency among frequent blood donors
In her health-care job, Jackie Hannaford is well aware of the need for blood donations and willingly rolls up her sleeves to donate her 500 ml four or five times a year.
But last fall she had to take a break when she discovered her altruistic act was making her sick.
“I went to my doctor and I told her I had been feeling tired, that I wasn’t feeling so hot. I was getting short of breath just going up the stairs,” the Vancouver occupational therapist said. “She did some tests and she found out my ferritin was at eight and it’s supposed to be 100. She was quite concerned about it.”
Ferritin is a blood cell protein that contains iron. No or low ferritin levels indicate an iron deficiency, a precursor to anemia. Hemoglobin, measured before donors give blood, is a red blood count and a low level indicates anemia.
Hannaford had recently given blood after being told at the clinic her hemoglobin levels were high enough.
“I wasn’t really aware of the ferritin numbers, I thought it was all about the hemoglobin,” Hannaford, 29, said. “That was new information for me. I was quite surprised.” She’s not alone. Women who donate blood more than two or three times a year are twice as likely as those who don’t donate to be iron deficient. Men have a one-in-three chance of suffering low ferritin levels if they donate more than three times a year.
That’s according to a study by Canadian Blood Services.
“I think we’ve known for a while iron deficiency is a problem for frequent donors,” said Dr. Mindy Goldman, author of the report and medical director for donor and clinical services.
In September 2012, the AABB, an international association representing blood collection agencies, including CBS, urged its members to “take action(s) to monitor, limit or prevent iron deficiency in blood donors,” such as testing ferritin levels, providing replacement iron or recommending donors take supplements, and restricting the number of yearly donations.
Dr. Graham Sher, CEO of CBS and past president of the AABB, didn’t return a request for comment.
Almost three years after that recommendation, CBS has begun randomly sampling ferritin levels of 12,000 to 15,000 donors across Canada after a pilot study of 550 donors in Ottawa showed high iron deficiency rates among frequent donors, Goldman said.
Donors with low levels are sent a letter recommending they see their doctor and consider iron supplements and then receive a followup call, she said.