Altruistic teens may regret donating blood
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Blood banks are always struggling to replenish their supplies. The best potential donors, healthy young or middle-age adults, often say they are too busy with their lives to take the time to donate. One very-willing pool of possible donors, however, is teenagers. According to a story today by NPR, blood banks have stepped up their recruitment of high school students. This is true in Southern California too. The Red Cross of Southern California reports on its website that more than 30,000 pints of blood are collected at local high schools each year. Dozens of high schools have youth Red Cross chapters that organize blood drives on campus. Some states are trying to support the trend by lowering the minimum age requirement for donating blood. In July, Minnesota will lower the donor age from 17 to 16.
But there’s a potential problem. The Journal of the American Medical Assn. reported this week that 16- and 17-year-olds who donate blood have many more complications than older donors. Complications, such as bruising and fainting, occur in 10.7% of 16- and 17-year-olds compared with 2.8% of donors age 20 and older. Most of the complications are minor; but the study reported some gashes requiring stitches and a broken jaw from passing out and falling.
About this time last year, my daughter brought home a woozy friend who had passed out that afternoon while giving blood at school. He was ashen-faced and embarrassed to boot. His reaction convinced my daughter to wait until she was older to give blood even though she had been trying to gain weight for weeks in order to qualify as a donor. Teenagers are wonderfully altruistic human beings. But the authors of the JAMA study point out that when these kids suffer complications after giving blood, they may never come back. Kids should have thorough information about what blood donation involves and what they can do to minimize complications. See a list of tips here. Or, it might be better to wait until adulthood, when the experience is more likely to be a positive memory. The Red Cross of Southern California says its teen donors ‘become a base for a lifetime of life-saving blood donations.’ Maybe. But maybe not.
-- Shari Roan