Iron deficiency is common in frequent blood donors. At Ryhov blood center, hemoglobin and ferritin levels are measured in all newly registered blood donors. After June 2017, additional control for S-ferritin levels was added after the 4th and 5th blood donation, in women and men, respectively. The study aimed to evaluate S-ferritin levels in newly registered blood donors in 2018 and compare the number of rejected donors between men and women. Moreover, to compare S-ferritin levels between new registration and follow-up and compare the number of screening controls in 2016 with 2020. The study included all newly registered and rejected blood donors in 2018. Additionally, blood donors who were newly registered during 2018–2019 and underwent the follow-up S-ferritin control between 2018–2021 were included. The number of newly registered in 2018 was 544 blood donors, 17% were rejected due to low S-ferritin levels where all were women. Results showed that S-ferritin levels decreased at follow-up and the difference was greater in men than women. However, women had lower S-ferritin levels at new registration compared to men. The study could not show that follow-up S-ferritin control has an effect in reducing the number of screenings controls.

Tillgängligheten av blod kan vara livsavgörande för många personer, därför är blodgivning en viktig del av vården. För blodgivare kan en regelbunden blodgivning påverka kroppens järndepåer vilket på sikt kan leda till en järnbrist. Syftet med denna studie var att kartlägga blodgivares järndepåer i Region Jönköpings län genom att (i) utvärdera antalet och andelen nyanmälningar som ej uppfyllt godkänd S-ferritinnivå för blodgivning, (ii) jämföra nivåerna av S-ferritin vid nyregistrering och vid upprepad blodgivning, (iii) utvärdera intag av järnprofylax hos blodgivare, (iv) jämföra antalet, andelen samt orsaken till kontrollprovtagningar före och efter S-ferritin infördes som provtagningsrutin. Data insamlades och erhölls från Blodcentralen, Jönköping, Sverige, och analyserades statistiskt. Resultatet visade att fler kvinnor än män ej blev godkända som blodgivare på grund av S-ferritin <22 µg/L. Genom att sänka S-ferritinnivån kan fler kvinnor godkännas för blodgivning. Vidare visade studien att upprepad blodgivning leder till minskade järndepåer. Grupperna som erbjudits järnprofylax hade stabilare S-ferritin över tid vilket antyder att alla blodgivare skulle gynnas av järnprofylax, men vidare studier krävs. Majoriteten av blodgivare med S-ferritin ≤100 µg/L intar erbjudna järntabletter vilket visade att blodgivarna möjliggjorde fortsatt blodgivning. Slutligen visade studien att sedan S-ferritin infördes som provtagningsrutin 2017 har kontrollprovtagningar på grund av lågt B-Hb minskat, vilket visar att risken för att utveckla en järnbrist på grund av upprepad blodgivning har minskat i Region Jönköpings län. / The availability of blood could be crucial for many people; blood donation is, therefore, a vital part of healthcare. Continuous blood donation could affect the blood donors’ iron depots which could lead to an iron deficiency. The aim of the present study was to evaluate and highlight iron depots amongst blood donors in Jönköping County by (i) evaluating the number and proportion of new applicants which did not meet the approved S-ferritin levels for blood donation, (ii) compare the levels of S-ferritin in new registrations and repeated blood donations, (iii) evaluate intake of iron supplements amongst blood donors, (iv) compare the number, proportion and cause for control sampling before and after S-ferritin was introduced as a sampling routine. Data was collected from the Department of Transfusion Medicine, Jönköping, Sweden, and analysed statistically.The result showed that more women than men were not approved for blood donation because of S-ferritin <22 µg/L. By lowering S-ferritin, additional women will be approved for blood donation. Further, the study showed that continuous blood donation leads to decreased iron depots. Groups that were offered iron supplements showed more stable S-ferritin levels over time which implied that all blood donors would benefit from iron supplements, but further studies are required. The majority of the blood donors with S-ferritin ≤100 µg/L were taking their offered iron supplements which showed that the blood donors enabled future blood donations. Lastly, since S-ferritin was introduced as a sampling routine in 2017 the amount of control samplings due to low B-Hb has decreased. This shows that the risk to develop an iron deficiency due to continuous blood donation has decreased in Jönköping County.