Effect of the first year of COVID-19 pandemic on the collection and use of blood components in Colombia monitored through the national haemovigilance system.

Abstract

ObjectiveThis work aimed to establish the effects of the COVID‐19 pandemic on blood collection and blood product usage at the end of the first year.BackgroundThe arrival of SARS‐CoV‐2 to Colombia on March 6, 2020, triggered closure of borders and mandatory lockdown from March 23, 2020.Methods/MaterialsThe Colombian National Institute of Health administers the National database of confirmed cases of SARS‐CoV‐2 and the National Haemovigilance System. We examined positive SARS‐CoV‐2 cases identified between March 6, 2020, and March 6, 2021, using positive RT‐PCR testing (72.8%) or reactive antigen (27.2%). We also analysed accepted and deferred donors' information provided by 100% of blood banks and transfused patients notified by 83% of health care facilities nationwide, between March 1, 2019, to February 28, 2021.ResultsColombia registered 2 273 245 SARS‐CoV‐2 cases. From these, 60 412 people died from COVID‐19 (2.7%) and 2 172 418 individuals recovered (95.6%). There were 11 659 216 SARS‐CoV‐2 processed samples nationwide. People between the ages of 20 and 39 years concentrated 44.4% of the SARS‐CoV‐2 cases. There were 773 569 blood donations, mainly from a 20‐39‐year‐old population (60.5%). The pandemic caused a reduction of 155 393 blood donations (16.7%) and 51 823 total deferrals (33.7%).An 18.4% drop in volunteer donors and a 37.3% increase in donations from family/replacements members were observed. There were 399 453 transfused patients and 1 179 895 blood components administered (−8.7% and − 13.9% compared to March 2019–February 2020).ConclusionMandatory lockdowns in Colombia decreased blood collection and usage, resulting in a reduction of blood components transfused to individual patients.