title: A retrospective cohort study of blood hemoglobin levels in blood donors and competitive rowers.
abstract: To investigate the distribution of blood hemoglobin levels in healthy blood donors and elite athletes, a retrospective cohort study from 2001 to 2005 of candidate blood donors and elite rowers in Denmark was performed. Eighty-five thousand eight hundred and forty-six blood donors were identified (36 962 males), and 3.9% of the males had a blood hemoglobin above 10.5 mM, equalling a hematocrit of 51% and, 1.6% of the females had hemoglobin above 9.7 mM, corresponding to a hematocrit above 47%. One thousand four hundred and six rowers (1116 males) were investigated and 10.4% of the males and 8.3% of the females demonstrated values above the recommended limit for athletic competition. Thus, the prevalence of a high hemoglobin value was greater in the rowers, of both gender, than in the candidate blood donors (P<0.0001). The data demonstrate that high hemoglobin levels in blood are seen regularly in normal people and especially in competition athletes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Immunology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. per.johansson@rh.hosp.dk
authors.forename: P I
authors.initials: PI
authors.lastname: Johansson
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ullum
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.forename: N H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Secher
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001782:Blood Donors; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003163:Competitive Behavior; D003718:Denmark; D005260:Female; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012767:Ships; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D006454:Hemoglobins