Facts About Blood
- More than 4.5 million patients need blood transfusions each year in the U.S. and Canada.
- Someone needs blood every two seconds.
- Only 37 percent of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood – less than 10 percent do annually.
- About 1 in 7 people entering a hospital need blood.
- One unit of whole blood is roughly the equivalent of one pint.
- The amount of blood in the body of an average adult: 10 pints.
- Blood makes up about 7 percent of your body's weight.
- A newborn baby has about one cup of blood in his body.
- One pint of blood can save up to three lives.
- Healthy adults who are at least 17 years old (16 years old with parental consent in our tri-state area of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky) and at least 110 pounds may donate about a pint of blood – the most common form of donation – every 56 days, or every two months.
- The amount of donated blood used each day in the U.S. and Canada: 40,000 pints.
- Females receive 53 percent of blood transfusions; males receive 47 percent.
- The percentage of blood donors who are also registered voters: 94 percent.
- There are four main red blood cell types: A, B, AB and O. Each can be positive or negative for the Rh factor. AB is the universal recipient; O negative is the universal donor of red blood cells.
- Dr. Karl Landsteiner first identified the major human blood groups – A, B, AB and O – in 1901.
- One unit of blood can be separated into several components: red blood cells, plasma, platelets, and cryoprecipitate.
- Red blood cells survive about 120 days in the circulatory system and their primary purpose is to deliver oxygen to the body’s organs and tissues.
- Platelets promote blood clotting. Many patients undergoing chemotherapy to treat their disease are given platelets to prevent hemorrhage.
- Plasma, which is 90 percent water, makes up 55 percent of blood volume. It is pale yellow in color and in addition to water, contains various proteins and salts.
- Healthy bone marrow makes a constant supply of red cells, plasma, and platelets.
- One type of white blood cell, called a granulocyte, is the cell type that plays the primary role of fighting off infection.
- Apheresis is a special kind of blood donation that allows a donor to give a specific blood component, such as a unit of platelets, plasma or red blood cells. In some instances, a donor may provide the equivalent of two units of red blood cells.
- Forty-two days: the time period that donated red blood cells can be stored.
- Five days: the time period that donated platelets can be stored.
- One year: the time period that frozen plasma can be stored.
- Much of today's medical care depends on a steady supply of blood from healthy donors.
- The average whole blood and red blood cell transfusion for a given patient: 2.7 pints.
- Anemic patients utilize blood transfusion as one way to quickly increase their red blood cell levels.
- Cancer, transplant and trauma patients, and patients undergoing open-heart surgery may require platelet transfusions to survive.
- Sickle cell disease is an inherited disease that affects more than 80,000 people in the United States, 98 percent of whom are of African descent.
- Many patients with severe sickle cell disease receive blood transfusions on a frequent, periodic basis for their entire lives.
- A patient could be forced to pass up a lifesaving organ if compatible blood is not available to support the transplant.
- Hoxworth Blood Center performs thirteen tests on samples from each donated unit of blood (10 are for infectious disease markers).
- The percent of non-donors who cite "never thought about it" as the main reason for not giving is 17 percent, while another 15 percent say they're too busy.
- The #1 reason blood donors say they give is because they "want to help others."
- Shortages of all blood types happen during the summer and winter holidays.
- Blood centers often run short of types O and B red blood cells.
- The rarest blood type is the one not on the shelf when it's needed by a patient.
- There is no substitute for human blood.
- If all blood donors gave three times a year, blood shortages would be a rare event (The current average is less than two.).
- If only one more percent of all Americans would give blood, blood shortages would disappear for the foreseeable future.
- The amount of blood you could donate if you begin at age 17 and donate every 56 days until you reach 79 years old: 46.5 gallons.
- Four easy steps to donate blood: medical history, quick physical, donation, and snacks.
- The actual blood donation usually takes about 10 minutes. The entire process – from the time you sign in to the time you leave – takes about an hour.
- After donating blood, you replace the fluid in hours and the red blood cells within four weeks. It takes eight weeks to restore the iron lost after donating.
- You cannot get AIDS or any other infectious disease by donating blood.
- Giving blood will not decrease your strength.
- Any company, community organization, place of worship, or individual may contact their local community blood center to host a blood drive.
- Blood drives hosted by companies, schools, places of worship, and civic organizations supply roughly half of all blood donations across the U.S.
- People who donate blood are volunteers and are not paid for their donation.
- 500,000: the number of Americans who donated blood in the days following the September 11 attacks.
- Blood donation. It's about an hour of your time. It's About Life.
*Source: The 2007 Nationwide Blood Collection and Utilization Survey Report, Department of Health & Human Services.
**W. Riley, et al. The United States’ potential blood donor pool: estimating the prevalence of donor-exclusion factors on the pool of potential donors. Transfusion 2007.
Source: America's Blood Center
Updated 12/21/10
