Posted ,
Reading 2 mins.
The donation of blood and plasma would not only benefit the recipient, it also confers benefits on the body of the donor. This is revealed by a clinical trial including firefighters in Australia and published in the prestigious scientific journal JAMA Network.
Firefighters, professionals particularly exposed to toxic substances
Rescuers who fight fires and intervene in various disasters have high levels of substances harmful to health, including perfluoroalkyls and polyfluoroalkyls (PFAS), in their blood. These chemical and synthetic products are omnipresent in everyone’s daily life: they are found in clothing, furniture, water, food, packaging and even in non-stick pans. In addition, firefighters are more exposed than the general population because PFAS are found in firefighting foams. Therefore, their blood is more loaded with these synthetic compounds than the general public.
Nevertheless, the study authors emphasize the fact that although scientific evidence has already demonstrated the existence of PFAS in the blood, “no intervention has been demonstrated for [en] reduce levels”. This is the reason why, through a randomized clinical trial, Professor Robin Gasiorowski’s team of researchers wanted to know if it was possible to reduce the concentrations of PFAS in the blood thanks to blood or plasma donations.
Nearly 300 firefighters mobilized for this study
The clinical trial, which lasted nearly 12 months, recruited 285 firefighters from Fire Rescue Victoria, a fire and rescue service in the state of Victoria, Australia. These volunteers had chemical levels of 5 ng/mL or more and were eligible to donate blood.
They were divided into three groups:
- 95 volunteers from the first group donated blood every 12 weeks;
- 95 firefighters from the second group donated plasma every 6 weeks;
- The control group, comprising 95 people, did not change any of their habits.
During the clinical trial period, PFAS levels were measured four times:
- During recruitment;
- At the start of the test;
- At the end of the study;
- Three months after the first results.
A significant drop in PFAS levels in the blood
It turned out that the levels of chemicals in the blood of the volunteers in the first two groups were significantly reduced, even three months after the end of the clinical trial.
Regarding sulfonate levels, they were reduced on average by “2.9 ng/mL compared to a reduction of 1.1 ng/mL with blood donation”. The differences were greater in the group of firefighters who donated plasma. Indeed, PFAS rates have dropped by 30%.
However, it is possible that this larger reduction is related to the fact that the plasma group donated every 6 weeks, while the delay was 12 weeks for the group that donated blood. Besides, “Each plasma donation can represent up to 800 ml compared to 470 ml for whole blood”, note the researchers.
However, the important information revealed through this clinical trial is that it is possible to purify the blood of a human body through blood and plasma donations. This is good news, especially since the Etablissement Français du Sang (EFS) often calls for donations, as it is regularly short of reserves.