Highlights
– The STRIDES trial evaluated four common interventions for preventing vasovagal reactions (VVR) in the largest study of its kind, involving 1.4 million donors and over 4.1 million donations.
– None of the tested interventions—500 mL isotonic drinks, 3-minute post-donation rest, modified applied muscle tension (AMT), or psychosocial preparatory materials—showed a significant reduction in syncope with loss of consciousness compared to standard care.
– The absolute event rate for the primary outcome was remarkably stable at approximately 10.5 to 10.7 per 10,000 donations, regardless of the intervention arm.
– These findings suggest that in high-resource settings with established safety protocols, incremental additions to donor care may provide negligible benefit, offering an opportunity to streamline blood service operations.
