title: Pain following blood donation: a questionnaire study of long-term morbidity (LTM) in blood donors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Nerve injury is a main cause of long-term morbidity following blood donation, but little is known about symptoms, impact, prognosis and underlying cause.
  
  
  METHODS
  A questionnaire, designed to characterize pain and estimate the prevalence of neuropathic pain, was sent to all blood donors registered with a complication related to 3 297 674 blood donations in Denmark from 2000-2009, with a local complication mainly characterized by pain, with severity grade 'long-term morbidity' and imputability grade 'definite' or 'probably'.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The questionnaire was sent to 152 donors (4·6 per 100 000 donations). Response rate was 88/152 (57·9%). At the time of the questionnaire, which was between 12 months and 10 years after the blood donation, 69/88, who responded (78·4%) still experienced symptoms. Of the 69 donors with persistent symptom, pain occurred in 51 donors (74%) was moderate to severe in 24/69 donors (35%) and had an impact on daily activity in 17/69 (25%). Neuropathic pain was estimated to be the underlying cause of symptom in 30-52% of the 69 donors with persistent symptoms, using three different systems for estimation, corresponding to 0·6-1·1/100 000 donations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although a rare complication, nerve injury after blood donation may lead to long-term morbidity and may become chronic in a small proportion of donors. The most common symptoms are pain, and we estimate that neuropathic pain can be the underlying cause.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Immunology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors.forename: B S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Sørensen
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Immunology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jørgensen
authors.affiliation: The Danish Pain Research Center, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.|Department of Neurology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors.forename: T S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.affiliation: The Danish Pain Research Center, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
authors.forename: N B
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Finnerup
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001782:Blood Donors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009017:Morbidity; D009437:Neuralgia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D010146:Pain / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D059348:Peripheral Nerve Injuries / Q000209:etiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: blood collection; donor health; donors; hemovigilance