Cross-sectional Epidemiological Study to Evaluate the Cardiovascular Profile of a Cohort of Blood Donors

Background: Cardiovascular diseases are among the most frequent causes of mortality and morbidity in industrialised countries. The identification of subjects at high risk of cardiovascular diseases is one of the main aims of individual primary prevention programmes and is the essential background for instituting interventions aimed at reducing modifiable risk factors, from lifestyle changes to pharmacological interventions. DONORS AND METHOD: In order to evaluate the absolute global risk of cardiovascular disease in the population of blood donors of the Transfusion and Immunohaematology Centre of the Fondazione IRCCS Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Mangiagalli e Regina Elena of Milan, we used the absolute global cardiovascular risk (CVR) score of the Progetto Cuore. Between September 2004 and June 2006, 11,093 blood donors were evaluated for their suitability for donating blood. The criteria for inclusion in the calculation of the individual values of the absolute global CVR score were: age between 35 and 65 years old, fasted for at least 12 hours, and no previous reported or diagnosed cardiovascular episodes. Each donor was also asked to provide written informed consent to participation in the study. THE POPULATION OF BLOOD DONORS WAS DIVIDED INTO FOUR GROUPS ACCORDING TO THEIR CVR SCORE: CVR < 3%, CVR between 3% and 10%, CVR between 10% and 20%; CVR above 20%. The characteristics of the population were analysed subdividing the subjects according to age and gender.

Results: Although most of the blood donors belonged to the group with low CVR, it was nevertheless possible to identify a group of donors with high CVR.

Conclusions: It is to be hoped that CVR is calculated ever more widely in the population of blood donors in order to identify individuals at high CVR and also with the aim of reducing the levels of risk factors in the population with low or moderate CVR.