Although donating blood is a safe and virtually painless process, many people still avoid doing so because of certain fears that they may have. Some people don’t like needles, while others just don’t like the sight of blood. Even the thought of being around blood is enough for some folks to stay away from the local blood donation drive. A sad fact of modern life is this: there is someone who needs to have donated blood every two seconds. Unless there are people who are willing to donate, some of these people are going to go without.
38 Statistics About Donating Blood
1. More than 4.5 million people need a blood transfusion at least once every year in the United States and Canada.
2. The amount of donated blood that is used in the United States and Canada every day: 43,000 pints.
3. Only 37% of the US population is eligible to donate blood.
4. 1 out of every 7 people who are admitted into a hospital will need blood at some point during their stay.
5. Just one pint of blood is able to save up to 3 lives.
6. Women receive more blood transfusions [53%] than men [47%].
7. 94% of people who choose to donate blood are also registered voters.
8. Most donated red blood cells can only be stored for 42 days.
9. The length of time that donated blood platelets can be safely stored: 5 days.
10. Plasma that has been frozen can be successfully stored for up to a year.
11. The average blood transfusion that includes white and red blood cells requires about 3 pints of donated blood in total.
12. Sickle cell disease requires up to 100,000 people to have blood transfusions every year and 98% of those affected by this disease come from an African descent.
13. If donated blood is not available for a patient who needs an organ transplant, that patient would be forced to give up their place on the transplant list.
14. The percentage of people who don’t donate blood because they’ve never even thought about it: 17%.
15. The #1 reason blood donors say they give is because they “want to help others.”
16. There is no substitute for human blood.
17. The two most common needs for donated blood are Type B and Type O.
18. It would only take 1% of more eligible Americans to donate blood to eliminate almost all of the total blood shortages that currently exist.
19. If someone donated blood from the age of 17 to the age of 79 whenever they were eligible, they could donate a lifetime amount of 46.5 gallons.
20. It takes just 4 weeks to replace the fluids lost during a blood donation.
21. The average human adult has 10 pints of blood in their body at any given moment.
22. Blood makes up about 7% of the body’s total weight.
23. In the days following the September 11 terrorist attacks, more than 500,000 came forward to donate blood.
24. 13 tests, 11 of which are for infectious diseases, are performed on each unit of donated blood.
25. The Summer and Winter months are the most common times for blood shortages to occur.
26. Car accident victims can require red blood cell transfusions of 100 units or more.
27. The actual blood donation part usually takes about 10 minutes.
28. It is not possible to get an infectious disease simply by donating blood and it will not decrease strength.
29. A sterile needle is used only once for each donor and then discarded.
30. A total of 30 million blood components are transfused each year in the U.S.
31. About 1,000 babies are born every year that have sickle cell disease, which requires them to have up to 1 blood transfusion per month throughout their entire lives.
32. The number of blood donations collected in the U.S. in a year: 15.7 million
33. Less than 10% of the eligible population donates blood every year.
34. All donated blood is tested for HIV, hepatitis B and C, syphilis and other infectious diseases before it can be released to hospitals.
35. Only 3% of the US population have AB positive blood, which is often used for emergency situations.
36. Type O blood is more common in the Hispanic and African American populations and it makes up 45% of the US population.
37. The American Red Cross supplies about 40 percent of the nation’s blood supply.
38. The Red Cross provides blood for patients in approximately 2,700 hospitals across the U.S.
Types of Blood
There are four basic blood types and they were first identified in 1901 by Dr. Karl Landsteiner: A, B, AB, and O. Each type of blood has specific characteristics that make it unique. There are positive and negative Rh factors that are associated with each blood type. People who have AB blood can be given any type of blood successfully. People who have O type blood can become donors of red blood cells to anyone. Those red blood cells are important because it is what carries the oxygen to the body’s tissues and organs. They only live for about 120 days in total.
Platelets are also an important part of donated blood. The platelets promote clotting within the blood and can help people be able to have a chance to live when they otherwise may have not. Healthy adults who are at least 17 years old and weigh at least 110 pounds can donate up to one pint of blood at a time. Depending on their iron levels, the average person can make a donation once every two months.
For bone marrow to be healthy, there must also be good amounts of plasma present. Plasma looks very pale and yellow in color and it is made up of 90% water. It is also more than half of the total blood volume that is in the human body. Proteins and salts are also in plasma and without this supply, the body becomes run down and can no longer fight disease as well as it is designed to do. That’s why donating blood in any form is such a critical part of modern medicine if you are able to do so.
A Need for Blood
People need blood. In order to get it, other people need to be willing to donate it. There’s just no other way to get around that fact.
Donating blood might not be one of those things that you think about on a daily basis. It’s understandable because the modern life is a busy one. You’re moving at full speed from the time you get up until the time you get to bed at night and if you’ve got kids, you’re probably up half of the night as well. Life is about a daily battle for survival.
Now imagine if you needed blood to be able to even get up to battle for survival. For millions of people every year, that’s a harsh reality. Without donated blood, they would not be able to survive. That’s why having everyone who is eligible to donate blood do so is such an important part of the health care industry that we have. It’s also why some people are looking to donate their own blood so that it can be used for their own future surgeries. That is something that requires a prescription, however, so it cannot be done just by walking into a blood drive.
You may not be able to donate blood if you have an active infection going on, especially if you are using antibiotics. This also includes vaccinations. You may be asked to wait up to 3 weeks to donate blood once again after you’ve had certain vaccinations. If you were vaccinated with smallpox or have a family member who was, then a full 8 weeks of waiting might be required.
People with diabetes are able to donate blood, but with one exception: they cannot if they ever used insulin that came from cattle in the United Kingdom. This is to eliminate the potential for Mad Cow disease. Medications don’t usually disqualify a blood donation, but certain meds may require a waiting period. Blood pressure issues don’t disqualify a person from donating either, although extremely high blood pressure of 180 systolic is generally avoided. Any time there has been a heart issue, however, a waiting period of 6 months may be instituted.
Donating blood is something that needs to be done if you qualify. With regular blood drives in your area, all you’ve got to do is show up to be determined if you are eligible to donate blood. You don’t even need to know your blood type because the donation center will determine that when they take your donation. Thousands of lives are at stake every year and with 3 lives able to be saved with just one pint of blood, the excuse of never thinking about a blood donation needs to end right now.