{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T08:02:06Z","timestamp":1790064126400,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":27,"publisher":"Wiley","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790035200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790035200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/doi.wiley.com\/10.1002\/tdm_license_1.1"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Transfusion"],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Little is known about the perceived pain associated with blood donation. This study aimed to investigate expected and perceived pain among first\u2010time blood donors.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Study Design and Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In this prospective observational study, 140 consecutive first\u2010time blood donors (70 men and 70 women) were included. The donors were asked to grade the expected pain prior to their first whole blood donation and to grade the perceived pain after the procedure. The pain was graded using an 11\u2010point Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) from 0 (no pain) to 10 (worst imaginable pain). The association between experienced pain and drop\u2010out as a blood donor at 2\u2009years was also investigated.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The mean age of first\u2010time blood donors was 30.6\u2009years, with no difference between men and women (31.2 vs. 30.0\u2009years,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u2009.533). First\u2010time blood donors significantly overestimated the venipuncture pain, with on average 1.16\u2009units lower perceived (\n                      <jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u2009\u22121.16,\n                      <jats:italic>t<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u2009\u22125.335,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009&lt;\u2009.001). Men reported both higher expected and perceived pain rates than women, but with no statistically significant interaction between pain discrepancy and sex (\n                      <jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u2009\u22120.41,\n                      <jats:italic>t<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u2009\u22121.351,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u2009.179). In a multivariable logistic regression model, perceived pain was not associated with deregistration as a blood donor at 2\u2009years.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>First\u2010time blood donors experience significantly less pain than expected while donating blood. This knowledge should be used to reduce anxiety in first\u2010time blood donors and profiled in donor recruitment campaigns to possibly increase the number of available blood donors.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1111\/trf.70395","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T07:05:53Z","timestamp":1790060753000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["First\u2010time blood donors experience less venipuncture pain than anticipated"],"prefix":"10.1111","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3867-8568","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Johan O.","family":"Wedin","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Anesthesiology Uppsala University Hospital  Uppsala Sweden"},{"name":"Department of Surgical Sciences Uppsala University  Uppsala Sweden"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-5584-1229","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Daphne","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Transfusion Medicine Sundsvall County Hospital  Sundsvall Sweden"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6578-9044","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Anders E.","family":"Henriksson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Transfusion Medicine Sundsvall County Hospital  Sundsvall Sweden"},{"name":"Natural Sciences Mid Sweden University  Sundsvall Sweden"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]]},"reference":[{"issue":"2","key":"e_1_2_9_2_1","first-page":"S1","article-title":"Has the trend of declining blood transfusions in the United States ended? 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PT","year":"2019","journal-title":"Transfusion"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1016\/j.transci.2021.103270","article-title":"Motivators, barriers and communication channels for blood donation in relation to students at a university in Spain","volume":"60","author":"Padilla\u2010Garrido N","year":"2021","journal-title":"Transfus Apher Sci"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2539","DOI":"10.1111\/trf.17162","article-title":"Blood donation motivators and barriers reported by young, first\u2010time whole blood donors: examining the association of reported motivators and barriers with subsequent donation behavior and potential sex, race, and ethnic group differences","volume":"62","author":"France CR","year":"2022","journal-title":"Transfusion"},{"key":"e_1_2_9_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"S3","DOI":"10.1097\/AJP.0000000000000272","article-title":"Far from \u201cjust a poke\u201d: common painful needle 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