Blood transfusion Women's blood a danger to young men?

A blood transfusion can be fatal if men get blood from mothers

For example, when men need a transfusion following an accident, it is not only the blood type that counts, but also the question of who the blood comes from. Researchers have now found in an investigation that men die more often after transfusion, when the blood comes from women who have already born a child.

In a transfusion for men, doctors will have to pay attention in the future, who has donated the blood. If this is a woman who is already a mother, this leads to an increased risk of death for the men. The Leiden University Medical Center's Dutch scientists published the results of their study in the internationally acclaimed JAMA journal.

Blood donations are important, for example, to save the lives of people after an accident. Physicians now found that men die more often after receiving a transfusion, when the donated blood comes from a woman who was previously pregnant. (Image: lightpoet / fotolia.com)

A blood donation can have life-threatening effects for men

That a blood donation can save lives, most people should have heard before. However, there seems to be significant limitations to this statement. The blood of women who are already pregnant is not well tolerated by men. When men receive a transfusion of such blood, they subsequently die more frequently, explain the physicians. The death rate was significantly lower when men received the blood from other men or from women who had not previously been pregnant.

Experts analyze data from more than 31,000 Dutch hospital patients

For their investigation, the researchers had analyzed the data of more than 31,000 patients. The participants were on average about 65 years old. The affected people received a blood transfusion in one of six Dutch hospitals between 2005 and 2015.

Nearly 4,000 subjects died after the blood donation

In the course of the Dutch investigation nearly 4,000 recipients of a blood donation died. It was noticeable that the risk of dying from such a donation was not the same for all recipients, say the scientists. The physicians found that every year, ten percent of men who had previously received a blood donation from mothers died. The mortality rate was lower if the transfusion used the blood of another man or woman without a previous pregnancy.

Women have a lower risk of dying after a blood donation

The risk of dying was particularly high when the men were under the age of 50 years. These men seem to tolerate the blood of women who have already gone through a pregnancy, generally worse, the researchers report. For women, it looks very different. It does not really make any difference who gets a transfusion from women. In general, the death rates of women after blood donations were lower, explain the authors. The results of the study showed that only seven percent of women died when they received the blood of a woman with a previous pregnancy. The probability of dying was six percent if the donated blood was from a man.

Are antibodies in the blood of mothers dangerous for men?

The medical community suspects that certain antibodies in the blood of mothers could be responsible for this phenomenon. The antibodies form to protect the unborn child from various infections. But even after the baby's birth, such antibodies remain in the mother's bloodstream. If this blood is then transfused into a man's body, it can cause health problems or even death, the scientists explain.

What is the main cause of death for men after a transfusion?

The study found that the most common cause of death for patients was transfusion associated lung injury. This is a very dangerous and potentially fatal inflammation of the lungs, explain the physicians. Such a disease develops more often after a transfusion, when the donated blood came from a woman who was previously pregnant.

Results from other studies were contradictory

Earlier scientists had found in various studies that there are possible relationships between the sex and the risk of dying prematurely after a transfusion. The results of these studies were quite contradictory, the researchers explain. In June, for example, the largest study so far by Swedish and Danish physicians revealed that there was no identifiable link.

Further research is needed

Further studies must support and confirm the findings. The responsible mechanism, which makes maternal blood so harmful to younger men, needs to be better understood. It is also interesting why this danger does not exist for women and older men. Until such studies have been conducted, the applicable criteria for donating blood should not be changed, experts suggest. (As)