Production and use of blood components

Apheresis - blood restitution to a donor after detaching blood cells or plasma from it.

Apheresis procedure - a medical technology in which the blood of a donor is passed through a machine that separates out only one particular constituent and returns the remainder of blood to the donors' circulation.

Blood centre – an independent health care provider or a hospital department which function is to collect blood, and to manufacture, examine, store, distribute and sell blood components. The objective of a blood centre is to guarantee that blood components are available to health care providers on a twenty-four-hour basis. Blood centre operates on the basis of activity license issued pursuant to the Medicinal Products Act.

Blood component – a blood product manufactured from whole blood or collected directly from a blood donor and which contains constituents from the blood of one or several blood donors.

Blood donor – according to the Blood Act, a person with active legal capacity who is 18-65 years of age and who donates blood free of charge for the purpose of treatment of other persons to a handler of blood.

Blood plasma – the liquid protein (non-cellular) component of blood, which transports blood cells, nutrients and residues in the body and takes part in the forming of blood clots.

Blood product – a medicinal product manufactured or produced from blood, packaged in conforming packaging and containing one or several blood constituents. Whole blood, blood components and plasma-derived products are blood products.

Blood transfusion – a therapeutic procedure in the course of which whole blood or blood components are transfused to the recipient.

Hospital – a health care provider which complies with the requirements related to location, construction, administrative organisation and staff, aimed at providing in-patient medical care in medical specialties. As a rule, in addition to in-patient health care service, hospitals also provide out-patient and day care services.

Hospital blood bank – a structural unit of the operator of a hospital which function is to order and store blood components, and to distribute them for use within hospital facilities, to carry out immunohaematological testing and to co-ordinate and provide consultations for use of transfusions for treatment. Hospital blood banks are permitted to collect blood only under extraordinary circumstances where the hospital, and blood centre which usually provides the hospital with blood components, lack sufficient blood supplies, and postponement or failure to perform a transfusion is likely to result in a patients’ death or permanent damage to his or her health.

Plasma-derived product – a blood product industrially produced from the blood plasma of several blood donors and which contains a specific constituent of blood plasma.

Platelet – a small spangle-shaped cell without a nucleus derived from a bone marrow cell (megakarocyte) which takes part in haemostasis and the formation of blood clots.

Red blood cell – a flat cell without a nucleus that contains a lot of haemoglobin (the most common blood cell type) and supplies the tissues and organs of the body with oxygen.

The aim of collecting and producing statistical data on production and use of blood components is to provide an overview of the number of blood donors and the volume of whole blood or blood components collected, of the reasons for discarding certain blood products, and of the completed products, which are used in hospitals for treating patients. The statistics of the production and use of blood components includes data on blood centres and on blood transfusions carried out in hospitals.

The data are collected in accordance with the Health Care Services Organisation Act (HCSOA) and decree by the Minister of Social Affairs.

1) The data of blood centres are collected on one calendar year with an aggregated report called “Blood Establishment”. The report includes data on the number of blood donors, the volume of blood or blood components collected, the volume of discarded blood and the reasons for discarding, and the blood products manufactured. Since 2014 data about donations by donor's sex and age group, temporarily or permanently excluded persons from blood dontation by cause and positive cases of transfusion-transmissible infections in donors' blood. The statistical report is submitted by all blood centres. As of May 2003, there are four blood centres and they all operate within the structure of a hospital: Blood Centre of the North Estonia Medical Centre, Blood Centre of the Ida-Viru Central Hospital, Blood Service of the Pärnu Hospital, Blood Centre of the Tartu University Hospital.

2) The data on performed blood transfusions are collected on one calendar year with the aggregated report “Hospital”, which should be submitted by all hospitals that carry out blood transfusions to patients. In 2008, blood transfusions were carried out in 24 hospitals, in 2015 - in 23 hospitals, in 2018 - in 21 hospitals. The reports include information on the annual volumes of blood products used for blood transfusion, the number of blood transfusion patients, and post-transfusion reactions by age groups of patients. Since 2014 the data for Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), Anti-D Ig and other immunoglobulins are not collected. Since 2014 report includes new blood products: 100 dosage units of Von Willebrand factor, Immunoglubulin, IgG Anti-D and Prothrombin Complex Concentrate.

The data is published in absolute figures and the number of blood donors is also published as a percentage of average annual population.

National Institute for Health Development of Estonia, The National Health Service of Latvia, Health Information Centre, Institute of Hygiene, Lithuania. Health in the Baltic Countries 2016. Tallinn: National Institute for Health Development; 2018. Report is available here in pdf-format

National Institute for Health Development of Estonia, The National Health Service of Latvia, Health Information Centre, Institute of Hygiene, Lithuania. Health in the Baltic Countries 2015. Tallinn: National Institute for Health Development; 2017. Report is available here in pdf-format

Jane Idavain

Department of Health Statistics

National Institute for Health Development

E-mail: jane.idavain[at]tai.ee

Updated: 21.08.2023