ISTARE

IHN data collection (2006-2016 data) in the ISTARE database

For ten years the IHN hosted “ISTARE” which stands for International Surveillance of Transfusion-Associated Reactions and Events in donors and recipients of blood components. It was developed in 2008 at a time when few international comparisons of haemovigilance data had been performed, and when it was known that the anticipated EU-wide data submission would be limited to the severe adverse events and reactions. Hence its aim was to span all levels of severity, encourage participation by haemovigilance systems worldwide and use common definitions in order to allow international comparisons, information sharing and benchmarking.

In all, 125 annual aggregated national data sets were received from 25 countries, covering 132.8 million blood components issued with 102,955 recipient adverse reactions and 594,477 donor adverse reactions reported. Several important publications have emerged based on the ISTARE data.

If you as a policy-maker or researcher would be interested in utilizing the aggregate data collected (2006-2016), please email the IHN at secretariat@ihn-org.com for further information.

Despite the success of ISTARE, the collected data are limited by inconsistent application of definitions and insufficient granularity of the (aggregate) data. As of 2025, a renewed vision within the IHN board and data committee sees IHN continuing to work with international partners to promote harmonisation of haemovigilance data collection, and working on specific topics to meet the membership needs and address gaps in available definitions and tools.