Basic characteristics and safety of donation in related and unrelated haematopoietic progenitor cell donors – first 10 years of prospective donor follow-up of Swiss donors

• DOI: 10.1038/s41409-022-01656-z
• Publication Date: 2022-04-04T18:03:38Z
• Authors: M. Rüesch; S. Amar el Dusouqui; E. Buhrfeind; A. Buser; Y. Chalandon; B. M. Frey; T. Güngör; A. Holbro; S. Huguet; L. Infanti; G. Nair; G. Nicoloso; J. R. Passweg; U. Schanz; J-M Tiercy; I. Widmer; U. Zeilhofer; L. Zurkinden; J. P. Halter
• Keywords: Male; Middle Aged; Hematopoietic Stem Cells; Switzerland / epidemiology; Tissue Donors; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/616; Humans; Female; Prospective Studies; Unrelated Donors; Switzerland; Follow-Up Studies

Since July 2007 prospective life-long follow-up (FU) for unrelated (URD) and related donors (RD) is mandatory in Switzerland and data on every allogeneic haematopoietic progenitor cell (HPC) donation are collected prospectively. We report the real-world experience of HPC donation during a 10-year study period (01.07.2007-30.06.2017) with basic characteristics and FU data. 1105 donors underwent 1155 HPC donation procedures. Eighty percent of first donations performed by 802 (73%) RDs and 303 (27%) URDs were peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC), 20% bone marrow (BM). Male donors were over-represented as URD (60% male vs 40% female). Main differences between RDs and URDs concerned age and pre-existing health disorders. RDs were significantly older at first donation (median age 48 years) compared to URD (34 years, p < 0.0001) and had more pre-existing health problems: 25% vs 9% in URD (p < 0.0001). No fatal complications occurred, collection related severe adverse events (SAE) after first donation were not significantly different between groups (RD 1.2%, URD 0.99%), incidence rates for neoplastic and autoimmune diseases did not exceed the rates of the general population. RDs are a more heterogeneous and potentially more vulnerable group, but if donor evaluation is performed appropriately, HPC donation is still safe.