US clinical-grade blood collection company, Tasso, has found that more than three-quarters of patients  suffer anxiety about getting a blood draw.

The survey quizzed more than 600 US citizens about their feelings about getting a blood test. It found that 78% of respondents experience some form of anxiety when it comes to getting blood drawn, with 57.6% of those indicating that anxiety as moderate or severe. An additional 37% reported a fear of needles.

The same study found that the primary reason most blood tests are cancelled is due to the inconvenience of reaching the required site, with 69% of respondents indicating that they were unwilling to travel further than 10 miles in order to complete the procedure.

The survey comes as the company is looking to push for more at-home testing by way of its Tasso+ device, a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) blood lancet paired with an app designed to allow the user to carry out their own blood tests at home.

Ben Casavant, CEO and co-founder of Tasso, said: “This survey validated our assumption that the painful and often inconvenient process of blood collection frequently leads to patient non-compliance and missed care."

"Disrupting this model is crucial, as routine blood tests can detect critical health changes early. While patients are more familiar with home testing post-COVID, few have had access to home blood test kits. Offering a painless, at-home option could significantly improve compliance, especially for those with limited access to healthcare facilities,” Casavant added.

The survey also found that 87% of respondents rate their physical pain from venipuncture blood collection as a one or above on a standard one to 10 pain scale. Of those, 76% indicated that they are willing to pay out of pocket to reduce the pain level. In line with its business, the company also found that whilst 73% of respondents have purchased some form of home health testing kit, only 15% had performed any sort of at-home blood test.

Elsewhere in the field of blood collection, an autonomous blood-drawing robot developed by the Dutch company Vitestro has become the first machine of its kind to be granted a CE mark from the European Union (EU). Meanwhile, England’s National Health Service (NHS) has kick-started a study which will screen up to 100,000 newborn babies for over 200 rare diseases.