Blood supply health research
In this research project FRCBS’s researchers use data from the FinDonor cohort and data from general population cohorts of THL Biobank to study health effects of blood donation.
FRCBS is also part of the FinnGen project. FinnGen combines electronic health registers and genome data to improve human health. Researchers at FRCBS use FinnGen resources for blood donation research. In addition, FRCBS’s blood donation history data forms the bases of all blood donation health research. Genetic data derived from the FinnGen project have been used describe the genetic background of iron deficiency anemia (Toivonen & al 2024, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/vox.13564) and estimate the value of genetic data in predicting success of a donor’s future blood donation attempts (Vinkenoog & al 2023, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/vox.13517).
Sufficiently high hemoglobin is a key prerequisite for safe blood donation. This project has developed mathematical prediction models for hemoglobin levels (Toivonen et al. 2021, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/vox.13223). These models were tested in 5 countries to confirm that they behave similar in different settings (Vinkenoog & al 2023, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/vox.13426). The study was funded by European Blood Alliance (https://europeanbloodalliance.eu/) and carried out in collaboration with Aalto University (https://www.aalto.fi/en) and Sanquin, the national blood service of the Netherlands (https://www.sanquin.nl/en).