Hurricane Beryl, which became the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, is an example of the unique summer challenges facing the blood community, which include fierce storms, hurricanes, and scorching heat. These factors not only disrupt blood collection efforts but can also impede the delivery of lifesaving blood products to hospitals, presenting a challenge for ensuring an adequate blood supply. While community blood centers are able to meet the demand for blood across the country, low inventories pose risk to both routine and emergency need. You can learn more about the current state of the nation’s blood supply and get a snapshot of supply levels here.
These environmental challenges compound the long-term trends impacting the nation’s blood supply, including declines in the overall number of individuals donating blood each year, the number of donors under the age of 50, along with a reduction in school and business-based blood drives, the backbone of our nation’s blood supply that are gradually recovering from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
School-based blood drives in particular secure many of the roughly 7 million annual blood donors. In fact, approximately 17% of blood drives last year took place in high schools or colleges. Yet, as schools enter summer breaks, fewer drives are held, leading to a decline in donations during this crucial period. This reality complicates efforts to bring in younger blood donors, who play a critical role in maintaining a stable and diverse blood supply.
As the latest U.S. Blood Donation Statistics and Public Messaging Guide highlights, nearly 60% of blood donations today come from individuals aged 40 and above, while nearly 45% come from those over 50. Between 2019 and 2021, there was a 60.7% decrease in donations from individuals aged 16-18 and a 31.9% decrease in donations from the 19-24 age group. This decline complicates efforts to diversify the donor base, since nearly half of post-Millennials identify as minorities.
Diversifying the donor pool is vital for effective patient care, particularly for those with conditions necessitating regular transfusions, such as Sickle Cell disease and Thalassemia, which disproportionately affect minority communities. For these patients, it is imperative to match beyond blood type and find blood donations from individuals from similar ethnic backgrounds. However, less than 20% of all blood donations currently come from communities of color, highlighting the need for continued efforts to increase blood donations across communities of color.
This lack of donation at younger ages is also a concerning indicator for whether these individuals will donate later in life at a rate sufficient to replace donors in aging generations.
Blood transfusion remains one of the most common hospital procedures, with patients requiring a blood transfusion every two seconds. More than 42,000 units of red blood cells, platelets, and plasma are used by patients every day. These blood transfusions are needed to treat patients with acute care needs such as trauma and blood loss during childbirth, as well as for disease management for patients with a variety of health conditions, including cancer, inherited blood disorders, cardiovascular and orthopedic surgeries, and organ and bone marrow transplants.
America’s Blood Centers and our members are committed to addressing the challenges facing our national blood supply and ensuring blood products remain available for all patients in need. Learn more about our advocacy work and get involved today.