The Possibility of Increasing the Current Maximum Volume of Platelet Apheresis Donation

Japan’s aging society and its declining birthrate are threatening to upset the balance of supply and demand of blood products. We investigated the possibility of increasing the current maximum volume of platelet apheresis donation (PA) to the current maximum volume of plasmapheresis donation (PP), without changing the maximum number of platelets collected. We analyzed PA and PP anonymized data (675,406 donors) according to gender. The incidence of initial overall side effects (side effects 1), vasovagal reaction (VVR), and non-VVR were compared according to age, body weight and measured volume at each donor group using the independence test (by the chi-squared or Fisher’s exact test). Side effects were neither significantly different nor relatively high in donors both aged 30-69 years with weighing 65<70kg in male apheresis donors and aged 25-54 years with weighing 55-<70kg in female apheresis donors. It seems there is the possibility that the both maximum volume of male PA aged 30-69 years with weighing 65-<70 kg and female PA aged 25-54 years with weighing 55-<70 kg can be considered to increase as the subject sample on a trial basis. We expect this increase will make the risks of having fewer donors in the future reduced. Key Word Aging Society and Declining Birthrate, Platelet Apheresis Donation, Maximum Volume of Donation