Beschreibung:
<jats:sec><jats:title>Background and Objectives</jats:title><jats:p>The role of pre‐donation blood pressure (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BP</jats:styled-content>) as independent contributor to post‐donation vasovagal reactions (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">VVR</jats:styled-content>s) is still debated. Differences between a liberal (i.e., inclusion of hypotensive donors) and a restrictive policy (i.e., not accepting hypotensive donors) should be investigated. This study aims to investigate the consequences of a liberal policy in development of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">VVR</jats:styled-content>s after whole‐blood donations.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Materials and Methods</jats:title><jats:p>We compared the incidence of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">VVR</jats:styled-content>s between 2015 (restrictive policy) and 2016 (liberal policy) and the associated risk factors. We evaluated respectively 22 789 vs. 21 676 blood donations obtained from 18 001 blood donors (12 501 donated in both years).</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>Comparing the results we obtained between 2015 and 2016, donations showed an overlap of the cohorts. Two hundred fifteen <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">VVR</jats:styled-content>s (incidence rate 0·48%) were observed, 104 (0·46%) of which in 2015, and 111 (0·51%) in 2016. A preliminary univariate analysis showed that donors with systolic <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BP</jats:styled-content> <110 mm Hg had a two‐fold risk of <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">VVR</jats:styled-content>s compared to normotensive donors (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">VVR</jats:styled-content>/donation rate of 0·99% vs. 0·46%; <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> = 0·001). The subsequent multivariable logistic regression model showed that <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">VVR</jats:styled-content>s were highly associated with weight, site of collection, age and number of donations, excluding a role for systolic and diastolic <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BP</jats:styled-content>.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p>A liberal pre‐donation <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">BP</jats:styled-content> policy seems to be safe for blood donors. Our analysis confirms that older donors with higher body‐weight who already had donated blood are unlikely to experience <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">VVRs</jats:styled-content>.</jats:p></jats:sec>