How Many People Die A Year Waiting For Blood Transfusion?

The statistics relating to the annual death toll of people waiting for blood transfusion are staggering. About 25, 000, 000 people from the United States (that is, approximately one in every ten Americans) suffer or have suffered from a disease that afflicts the liver, pancreas or gall bladder. Of these, about 20, 300 Americans die of chronic liver disease and cirrhosis annually. Cirrhosis is usually caused by the excessive consumption of alcohol and also because of chronic hepatitis C.

Of the 3, 60, 000-plus people who are hospitalised annually due to cirrhosis, an estimated 25,000 people are afflicted with hepatitis C every year. The number of people who die of hepatitis C every year in the United States ranges between 10, 000 and 12, 000. Of these, more than half of the patients belong to the African-American and Hispanic races. Nowadays, the risk of death due to the hepatitis C infection is higher if the person has received a blood transfusion or an organ transplant before the month of July 1992.

Very few, actually. Usually hospitals have enough blood in their stocks to cover for emergencies. If time permits they will match for blood type. Otherwise blood type O negative is given, which is okay for the vast majority of recipients. A small number of people have rare antibodies and can only receive donations from a the few people with similar antibodies. This is extremely rare.

The other possibility is when someone has died from blood loss before they get to hospital. Cause of death in such cases would normally be attributed to the entire trauma the individual experienced, not specifically the blood loss.

Leaving aside those people who don't get to hospital in time, it's more likely that you will die from a mistake during blood transfusion than you would die waiting for a much needed transfusion. Such as if the wrong blood type is given or there is an antibody incompatibility. Or if the donated blood has an undetected infection in it (such as HIV and vCJD in the past). People with certain conditions who need regular transfusions (such as those suffering from haemeophilia or sickle cell anemia and related illnesses) will also be at high risk of risks associated with blood tranfusion.

I wonder if you really meant to ask about people waiting for organ donation, in which case the estimate is that about 400 people in the UK die each year waiting for organ donation.