Hemoglobin mass and blood volume change within four weeks after a blood donation.

Falz R, Leue F, Busse M

Summary

Falz R, Leue F, Busse M. Hemoglobin mass and blood volume change within four weeks after a blood donation. Clinical Sports Medicine International (CSMI) 2014, 7: 15-20

Purpose: Blood volume changes are often estimated using indirect indicators, such as hematocrit or hemoglobin concentration. The carbon monoxide (CO) rebreathing method provides the absolute determination of blood volume and hemoglobin mass. The aim of this paper was to measure changes of blood volume and hemoglobin mass with multiple blood volume determinations within four weeks after of a whole blood donation.

Materials and methods: Ten healthy blood donators (one woman and nine men) participated in the observation. Six blood volume measurements were performed within four weeks using a modified CO-rebreathing method. The blood volume measurements were carried out before and immediately after the blood donation and at weekly intervals thereafter. One-way repeated measures ANOVA with Tukey’s post-hoc test was used for multiple comparisons.

Results: The hemoglobin mass was significantly reduced for two weeks after the blood donation (T1: 948±197 g; T2: 865±179 g; T3: 876±183 g; T4: 904±179 g; T5: 919±196 g; T6: 922±167 g. Blood volume was significantly lower only immediately after blood donation (T1: 6392±964 ml; T2: 5869±982 ml; T3: 6180±878 ml; T4: 6043±1019 ml; T5: 6054±969 ml; T6: 6148±938 ml). The hemoglobin concentration increased significantly after the first week (T1: 9.16±0.97 mmol/l; T2: 9.11±0.76 mmol/l; T3: 8.64±0.79 mmol/l; T4: 9.25±0.55 mmol/l; T5: 9.36±0.82 mmol/l; T6: 9.29±0.57 mmol/l).

Conclusion: The hemoglobin concentration cannot indicate the change in hemoglobin mass after a blood donation. 69% of the lost hemoglobin mass was recovered after four weeks of blood donation. The current blood donation interval seems to be long enough to compensate the loss of hemoglobin mass by blood donation.

Keywords: Blood regeneration, hemoglobin mass, blood donation, CO-rebreathing method, blood volume