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Blood Center/Blood Hospital-Based Donor Center

(P-BC-15) Blood donor blood pressure outreach: results from a national donor engagement and education program.  

Sunday, October 20, 2024
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM  

    Presenting Author(s)

  • EG

    Eric Gehrie, MD

    Executive Physician Director, Therapeutic & Cellular Solutions
    American Red Cross
    Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Background/Case Studies: Traditionally perceived as a healthier demographic, blood donors are increasingly showing susceptibility to common public health issues such as hypertension and diabetes, mirroring the general population. Recognizing this, our blood center has initiated programs to engage with donors actively about their health. These include tracking their blood pressure readings during donation appointments, enhancing our website with blood pressure information and its Spanish translation, incorporating these data into our donor app, and proactively contacting donors who have shown signs of elevated blood pressure during donation.

Study

Design/Methods:

Beginning in July 2023, blood donors with at least 2 instances of systolic blood pressure > 140 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure > 90 mmHg in the past 18 months were sent a letter suggesting that they discuss their blood pressure with their healthcare provider. Donors were also given information about how to find a low cost healthcare provider in their area if they did not already have one.  



  


Results/Findings: Since the implementation of the initiative, 90,361 letters have been sent with the majority in English (90,140), and a smaller portion in Spanish (221) Following the letter distribution, the English version of our blood pressure website saw a 20.6% increase in visits, totaling 31,052, over the subsequent 10 months.  The newly launched Spanish site has received 2,588 visits.

Conclusions: By utilizing both digital and traditional mailing strategies, our blood center has successfully engaged blood donors in managing their cardiovascular health. Early data evaluating impact on hypertension prevalence in contacted donors suggest that the outreach has positively influenced donor blood pressure management compared to control group of donors with elevated blood pressure who did not receive a letter. We plan to continue our outreach regarding hypertension and build on our efforts by offering hemoglobin A1C testing in the future.