2-3% of the population participates in blood donation programmes. Traditionally, safety
issues in transfusion medicine have been concentrating on product and recipient safety.
Extensive efforts including strict donor inclusion criteria and testing for important
transmissible infections have substantially improved product quality. One of the most common
risks of blood donation is iatrogenic iron deficiency. It may affect up to 30% of regular
blood donors because each whole blood donation causes a loss of 200 to 250 mg of iron.
Although this has been known for at least 50 years, iron deficiency is not routinely assessed
or treated in this population. Contributing factors include donation frequency, lower weight
and female gender. Women have lower iron reserves and in premenopausal women, the daily
required amount of iron is higher than in men. Besides anemia, iron deficiency may lead to
fatigue and impaired cognitive and physical performance. Oral iron substitution is often
associated with significant gastrointestinal side effects leading to poor compliance. Today,
intravenous (iv.) iron preparations are well tolerated and allow the application of a large
dose of 1000mg in one visit. Our hypothesis is that in blood donors with iron deficiency
intravenous iron is feasible and preferable to oral iron because of its high efficacy and
optimal compliance with a similar safety profile that has been extensively studied in other
populations than blood donors.