Why can't the over 60's donate blood?

[simon43]

This question is probably best asked to Sheryl, but I appreciate input from everyone of course!  I'm prompted to ask after the recent thread from David T Pike about obtaining some units of blood, prior to his operation in Chiang Mai.

 

I also asked Dr Google about donating blood if you are over 60 years old, and the general consensus seems to be that there is no medical reason not to donate blood, if you are fit and healthy.

 

When I lived in the UK, I regularly donated blood when in my 20's and 30's.

 

Here in north Laos, where I now live, the local hospital is always on the look out for blood donors, with monthly clinics which never attract enough donors.  They also have a cut-off age of 60 years old.  However, knowing how desperate the hospital is for blood donors, and currently being 62 years old, I happily lie on the donation form and give a fake date of birth.  I donate blood every 3 months, and the clinic staff are very confused, because my age seems to be getting younger each time!  (I started off at 57 years old, but now am 55....).

 

Seriously, is there any medical reason why I shouldn't donate blood on a regular basis?

[jackdd]

The older you are, the higher the chance to have any complications.

60 years is of course quite low, I think in most countries it's higher than that, and some countries don't have an upper age limit.

So I think the chance for complications is very low if you are healthy, and the limit of 60 years we see in Asian countries was probably enacted 50 years ago or so and never increased.

[skatewash]

No good reason that I'm aware of:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3806916/

In Australia the cut-off age is 81.  

The remarkable story of James Harrison:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Harrison_(blood_donor)

[KarenBravo]

From what I read on Google, it is only first time donors that are over 60 that cannot donate blood.

I have no idea why, though, one article mentioned iron deficiency.

[Sheryl]

There is no valid reason for this. Just a Thai rule.  

 

Part of a general, non-scientific notion of being "careful". Over 60 is considered very old (itself a wrong idea) and therefore feeble etc.

[PPMMUU]

It could be this. One condition that the blood bank will refuse your blood is that if you had lived in the UK for 6 months or more during 1980-1996 or had been given blood in that time period. This is to prevent spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease)

[Tropicalevo]

I think that the 'over 60' rule is flexible and varies by location.

I am O rh negative (universal donor) and I have been a regular blood donor since the age of 18.

I have given blood regularly here on Samui and I have even been called by the local hospitals when there is an emergency. (Plane crash, bad motorbike accident etc.) Lots of farang holiday makers until last year, but not too many donors. Hence the flexibility

At the age of 65 there were questions but they still took my blood. Sometimes taking photos for the 'Facebook' pages.

I made my last donation last February as I was 70 in April. They said then that it would be the last one.

I recommend everyone donates blood (if they can).

IT SAVES LIVES.

 

PS I hate that red drink that they give you afterwards. Very sweet.

Edited June 3, 2021 by Tropicalevo
add the PS

[Antonymous]

11 minutes ago, Tropicalevo said:

PS I hate that red drink that they give you afterwards. Very sweet.

 

When fresh, I quite like it...

 

[Sheryl]

2 hours ago, PPMMUU said:

It could be this. One condition that the blood bank will refuse your blood is that if you had lived in the UK for 6 months or more during 1980-1996 or had been given blood in that time period. This is to prevent spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease)

 

That is a separate restriction and it is not only Thailand that applies it.

 

But no matter what, even if someone has never left Thailand in their life, there is this age restriction, which makes no medical sense and is not done internationally. There is no reason at all why a healthy 60 or 70 year old can't donate blood.

[PPMMUU]

I'm thinking that maybe a number of "healthy" 60-70 year old Thais are not actually healthy. Some of them never get a checkup.

[papa al]

7 hours ago, simon43 said:

Here in north Laos, where I now live, the local hospital... have a cut-off age of 60 years old

 

5 hours ago, Sheryl said:

There is no valid reason for this. Just a Thai rule.

Thai rules in Laos.?

 

?

[tonray]

5 hours ago, Sheryl said:

There is no valid reason for this. Just a Thai rule.  

 

Part of a general, non-scientific notion of being "careful". Over 60 is considered very old (itself a wrong idea) and therefore feeble etc.

When I was interviewing for teaching jobs at age 57, I often got comments like, "we like your resume but at your age we are afraid you might not be able to walk up the  stairs to your classrooms as our school has no lifts". Thais think that by 60 most people are broken down shells, which may be local experience instead of the Western "Life begins at 60" attitude.

[impulse]

Maybe they saw too many Geritol commercials talking about "tired blood".

 

Anyone remember those?  If you're from the USA and over 60, you probably do.

 

Edit:  Not to mention the parody of the Geritol commercials in "Groove Tube".  My wife...  I think I'll keep her.

Edited June 3, 2021 by impulse

[Sheryl]

6 hours ago, tonray said:

When I was interviewing for teaching jobs at age 57, I often got comments like, "we like your resume but at your age we are afraid you might not be able to walk up the  stairs to your classrooms as our school has no lifts". Thais think that by 60 most people are broken down shells, which may be local experience instead of the Western "Life begins at 60" attitude.

 

Actually there are a lot of Thais - more and more -- who remain healthy and active well past 60. Attitudes haven't caught up with reality.

 

The assumption that by 60 people must be totally decrepit and at death's door is also prominent among local insurance companies.

[collingwood]

After I turned 60, was told that all I needed was a doctors certificate and I could then continue to donate, In Ubon.

[tonray]

14 minutes ago, collingwood said:

After I turned 60, was told that all I needed was a doctors certificate and I could then continue to donate, In Ubon.

It depends on the local rules. My GF and a friend host a charity blood drive once a year and I went to donate and the Thai Red Cross doing the blood work told me I was clearly too old as a foreigner (and decrepit...like a broken down old car)....ok I added  that last part.

[vandeventer]

There are just too many rules why your blood maybe no good. When I came back from Vietnam in 1969 I was station in California for 6 months. One day everyone was asked if they had a certain blood type which was rear ,which I had. So I let them take the maximum amount of my blood as someone needed it badly. So after taking my blood they started asking me questions like where was I stationed last. When I told them Vietnam, they asked me if I was taking the anti-Malaria pills which everyone did> Then they said my blood was no good. My question is if there were not enough donors would they have used my blood?  

[Skyking]

I'm 70. I have O- blood which is quite rare in Asia. I spent 3 years in Myanmar, each time I went to the blood donor centre I seemed to get younger! Home in Canada there's no upper limit, just a waiting period for donation if I've been to malaria infested countries. Same when I donated in US. Singapore won't take blood from visitors.

[Muhendis]

9 hours ago, Sheryl said:

Actually there are a lot of Thais - more and more -- who remain healthy and active well past 60

Ha Ha. you should see some of the thirty or so year olds' in my village.

[peleid]

My sister in the UK still gives blood and she is 70

[Excel]

16 hours ago, PPMMUU said:

I'm thinking that maybe a number of "healthy" 60-70 year old Thais are not actually healthy. Some of them never get a checkup.

As they never had free health care until recently that may be the reason they do not have check-ups but hardly a logical assumption to say that a number of 60-70 year olds are not healthy. There are I'm sure a number of all age groups that are not healthy. I am of the opinion that you go to see a doctor when you feel unwell, why go if you feel 100% ?  Let's face it there are  considerable number of 80+ in my area so the fact that they actually got to 80 should mean something. But of course giving blood is purely a personal choice anyway. 

 

Tony Hancock had his views on it also 

 

 

Edited June 4, 2021 by Excel

[TigerandDog]

22 hours ago, KarenBravo said:

From what I read on Google, it is only first time donors that are over 60 that cannot donate blood.

I have no idea why, though, one article mentioned iron deficiency.

Could have something to do with "mad cow disease" from many years ago. Over 60's are the generation ( from memory during the late 80's to around 2001 ) that this impacted upon, and  this generation were not allowed to donate blood if they had travelled to any of the countries where the disease was discovered.  The disease could spread to humans through consumption of beef and dairy products. Maybe a carry over from then.

[SomchaiCNX]

21 hours ago, Sheryl said:

There is no valid reason for this. Just a Thai rule.  

 

Part of a general, non-scientific notion of being "careful". Over 60 is considered very old (itself a wrong idea) and therefore feeble etc.

A couple months ago I did read something (on TV) that they are going to change it to 65? Doesn't Simon lives in Laos? Donor up to 60 as well. He is British and if he lived in the UK during the mad cow disease in the eighties he will excluded as well. In my home country I would be excluded because I lived in THailand. 

[SomchaiCNX]

1 hour ago, collingwood said:

After I turned 60, was told that all I needed was a doctors certificate and I could then continue to donate, In Ubon.

That's something I did hear as well. I'm excluded because I'm still on blood thinners  at the moment.

[RocketDog]

19 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

I think that the 'over 60' rule is flexible and varies by location.

I am O rh negative (universal donor) and I have been a regular blood donor since the age of 18.

I have given blood regularly here on Samui and I have even been called by the local hospitals when there is an emergency. (Plane crash, bad motorbike accident etc.) Lots of farang holiday makers until last year, but not too many donors. Hence the flexibility

At the age of 65 there were questions but they still took my blood. Sometimes taking photos for the 'Facebook' pages.

I made my last donation last February as I was 70 in April. They said then that it would be the last one.

I recommend everyone donates blood (if they can).

IT SAVES LIVES.

 

PS I hate that red drink that they give you afterwards. Very sweet.

I'm B+, relatively rare. In America blood banks would send an ambulance to my house to get my donation.

I'd give here but am not interested if they don't accept because of age.

Up to them.

[KKr]

16 hours ago, PPMMUU said:

I'm thinking that maybe a number of "healthy" 60-70 year old Thais are not actually healthy. Some of them never get a checkup.

haha,

getting the free checkup was the reason I became a donor in my student years. 

Actually, I found it a quite satisfying activity. More than once I was called to EMC in the middle of the night to donate, and knowing the guy on the operating table will survive because some people are donating blood feels good. ????

 

60 years is a useless limit, drilled into the local community’s mind.

maybe in 1900 it was a valid observation, before modern medicine.

[sandyf]

20 minutes ago, SomchaiCNX said:

That's something I did hear as well. I'm excluded because I'm still on blood thinners  at the moment.

They stopped taking my blood in the UK 40 years ago when I was put on Atenolol, and now with an anticoagulant, a definite no no.

[Russell17au]

As an organiser of a couple of volunteer emergency rescue team and bush fire brigades in NSW, Australia who regularly donated blood at the local hospitals back in the 70's & 80's we were limited to donating at 3 month intervals and until the age of 60. The reason that we were given by the medical experts then was that it takes 3 months for the blood in the body to rejuvenate to the amount and strength that your own body needs and that once you reach the age of 60 it starts to take longer for your blood to build back up again. That is what I was told by the hospitals back then.

[Kinok Powell]

18 hours ago, papa al said:

 

Thai rules in Laos.?

 

?

We all know what was meant.

[Andycoops]

When I reached my 60th the Thai red cross said no more, a year or so later they told me to come along and donate again because they've extended the cut off to 70.