The impact of health‐related quality of life and depressive symptoms on blood donor career—Results from the Danish blood donor study

Abstract

Background Blood donors report better health‐related quality of life (HRQL) than non‐donors. Likewise, donors reporting good health are less likely to stop donating and have a higher donation frequency. This is evidence of the healthy donor effect (HDE). This study is the first to investigate the impact of HRQL and depressive symptoms on subsequent donor career. Study Design and Methods Prospective cohort study includes 102,065 participants from the Danish Blood Donor Study applying the 12‐item short‐form health survey (SF‐12) measuring a mental (MCS) and a physical component score (PCS) and the Major Depression Inventory (MDI). Poisson and Cox regression models were used to assess the effect of SF‐12 and MDI scores on donation frequency and donor cessation. Higher MCS/PCS scores indicate good HRQL, while higher MDI score indicates higher experience of depressive symptoms. Results For both sexes, MCS was positively correlated with donation frequency for up to 5 years, and similarly for PCS among women. A negative correlation between MDI score and donation frequency in the year following assessment was observed only among men. No correlation was observed among women. An increase in both MCS and PCS was associated with a lower risk of donation cessation in both sexes, while an increase in MDI score was only associated with an increased risk of donation cessation in men. Conclusion MCS, PCS, and MDI score affect donor career. Thus, adjusting for donation frequency may reduce HDE‐bias in donor health research. However, because of the small effect sizes, other ways of quantifying HDE may be beneficial.

The healthy donor effect and survey participation, becoming a donor and donor career

“…Mortality differed between participating current, lapsed, and non‐donors; active blood donors also reported better mental and physical health than lapsed and non‐blood donors. The observation of active blood donors' superior self‐reported health is in agreement with previous investigations, regardless of whether these have assessed this with a single question 1,7,9 or similar to the present investigation by separate scores for mental and physical health 2,11 . Among active donors, self‐reported mental health increased with number of donations while self‐reported physical health did not.…”

“…We found no association between self‐reported health and future donation intensity; however, our study may have been inadequately powered to this end. A recent study among participants in the Danish Blood Donor Study demonstrated modest associations between self‐reported mental health, and in female donors also self‐reported physical health, and future donation activity 11 . Likewise, self‐reported health correlated with donation activity in the Dutch Insight study 9 .…”

“…The HDE suggests that individuals entering the blood donor population a priori would be healthier than non‐donors and that returning blood donors would, on average, be healthier than lapsing donors. Additionally, high‐frequency donors might also be healthier than less frequently donating donors 7,9–11 …”

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Sleep Quality, Stress Level and Health-Related Quality of Life—A Large Prospective Cohort Study on Adult Danes

“…The study focuses on a healthier subgroup of the general population consisting of active or previous blood donors [ 18 ]. The study could therefore be impacted by healthy blood donor bias [ 23 ]. Because we focus on factors impacting changes in HRQL, stress, and sleep quality within this cohort, the concern for bias is limited.…”

“…To account for the healthy donor effect and potential seasonal effects on self-perceived health [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ], regression analyses were subsequently adjusted for number of days since last blood donation and for season of the year that they answered the first questionnaire.…”