Abstract
Background The coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic caused a major impact on blood donation process and supply globally. A lockdown management procedure was launched nationally in Saudi Arabia to manage this global health crisis. The main aim of this study was to determine the effect of COVID-19 lockdown on blood donation services and supply in different regions of Saudi Arabia. Study Design and Methods. A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted in the blood bank centers of 5 major cities including Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Hail, and Jizan in Saudi Arabia. Demographic and blood characteristics were retrieved from the first 6 months of 2019 (January–June) and compared to the same period of 2020. Results Our findings showed variation in the characteristics of blood donation and supply among the centers surveyed, as some of these centers were adversely affected, while others showed an increase in the availability of blood products during the pandemic. For example, Jeddah's center was significantly affected by COVID-19 lockdown whereas Hail's center showed a significant increase in the analyzed characteristics of blood donation services in 2020 compared to 2019. Overall, there was no major difference among the surveyed centers between 2020 and 2019, and this might be due to the effective management of blood supply and transfusion. Discussion. Although blood supply and transfusion practice was slightly affected at various degree among the surveyed centers, the whole process did not show a significant effect on the overall outcome. This is in fact due to the proper preparedness, management of blood requirements and supplies, and efficient response of the surveyed centers in Saudi Arabia.
Highlights
Blood donation remains the main source of blood products consumption [1]
Some of these centers were adversely affected while others showed an increase in the availability of blood products during the pandemic lockdown
Our results showed that the center in Jeddah was the most affected one during the pandemic as most of the characteristics showed a significant drop in 2020 compared to 2019 (p < 0:05)
Summary
Blood donation remains the main source of blood products consumption [1]. It is a vital process to save lives of the needed patients who have anemia, serious injuries, surgical operations, and chronic disease complications [2]. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was announced as a pandemic infection by the World Health Organization (WHO) last year resulting in a public health emergency situation [3] Severe disruption to both supply and demand for blood donation and products are among the implications caused by COVID-19 pandemic. During the epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) reported in China at 2003, Beijing’s blood supply was significantly disturbed due to movement constriction caused by avoidance of people to be out in the public areas and the panic of catching the virus at the centers for donation This resulted in calling for a help request from centers located in less affected areas of the world [7, 9]. The main aim of this study was to determine the effect of COVID-19 lockdown on blood donation services and supply in different regions of Saudi Arabia. This is due to the proper preparedness, management of blood requirements and supplies, and efficient response of the surveyed centers in Saudi Arabia
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