The balance between the units collected and transfused is positive, also due to the slowdown in demand. Plasma collection is down (-7.3% compared to the previous year), but the Region remains among the first in Italy for the provision of plasma to make life-saving drugs
March 20, 2023 – “With a small gesture you can save a life. Today more than ever, remember to donate”.
To the appeals that the Blood System of the Emilia-Romagna Region made last year through communication campaigns the 140,897 blood donors in the region respondeda fact that has allowed Emilia-Romagna to confirm your self-sufficiency and at the same time of send 4,798 units of blood to regions in difficulty.
“Blood donation is a precious gesture, and therefore a sincere thanks to the 140,000 donors who have allowed our region not to report blood shortages for 2022 – comments the councilor for health policies Raffaele Donini-. And this is thanks to the joint work of the volunteers and volunteers of Avis and Fidas, del regional system he was born in coordination by the Regional Blood Center. However, in all honesty, we record that the data on plasma collection, after the great generosity of the Covid years, signal a slowdown. This is why I feel like renewing the appeal: donate blood and donate plasma, because they are indispensable for saving human lives”.
The collection of whole blood
Blood Units entire donated were 215.319 against the 216.558 of 2021 (-0.6%). The analysis by territory shows a slight increase in Romagna (+395 units for the provinces of Ravenna, Forlì, Cesena and Rimini), a slight decrease, equal to -2%, in Central Emilia (including the provinces of Bologna and Ferrara), a stable figure (-0.1%) forNorth Emilia (for the provinces of Piacenza, Parma, Reggio Emilia and Modena).
The balance between the units collected and transfused is positive, i.e. there were no situations of shortage. This is due to the fact that, while donations remained stable compared to the previous year, transfused units decreased (201,557 in 2022 against 202,001 in 2021). In this regard it should be remembered that 2021 had scored one decisive resumption of clinical and surgical activity after the pandemic, resulting in an increased need for blood.
Collection in apheresis (plasma and platelets)
Apheresis collections are decliningwhile remaining higher than pre-Covid values: they have been 67.913 against the 73.239 (-7.3%) in 2021 but still higher than 63.741 of 2019 (+6.5%). It must be said that in 2020 the collection increased slightly during the pandemic due to a greater awareness of donors about the importance of plasma, which – among other things – was the subject of the study “hyperimmune plasma from specific antibodies for SARS-CoV- 2 in healed donors”. It is important to remember that plasma is indispensable for the production of plasma-derived medicinal products such as albumins and immunoglobulins, capable of saving the lives of many patients.
This drop in collection leads to the consequent decrease in the supply of plasma to industry for the production of drugs, which in 2022 were 96.074 kg against the 100.692 of the 2021.
The contribution of plasma for industrial fractionation remains in any case well above the national average: in 2021 the transfer index in Italy was equal to 14,5 kg for every thousand inhabitants, while the Emilia-Romagna Region has conferred 22,6 kg per thousand inhabitants, among the first in Italy. Despite the drop, the index in 2022 in the region was confirmed at 22 kg per thousand inhabitants, while the national figure is not yet available (in 2021 the national figure stood at a transfer index of 14.5 kg/1,000 inhabitants).