Assessing the impact of respiratory infections and weather conditions on donor attendance and blood inventory in Hong Kong.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Maintaining a stable, safe and sufficient blood supply is crucial to the healthcare system. Every year, seasonal influenza epidemics lead to substantial hospitalizations and pose intense pressure on blood transfusion service worldwide, especially in an ageing population of Hong Kong which often see bi-annual influenza outbreaks. However, limited quantitative studies have been performed to assess the impacts of influenza and other respiratory infections on blood supply.

Methods

We estimated the impacts of respiratory infections on donor attendance and blood inventory, considering the confounding effects of weather conditions. The method only required influenza-like illness data from the existing sentinel surveillance network, local weather data, donor attendance re

SUBMITTER: Leung K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6529724 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature