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Prevalence, Donation Practices, and Risk Assessment of Blood Donors With Hemochromatosis
Ana M. Sanchez, MHS;
George B. Schreiber, DSc;
James Bethel, PhD;
Paul R. McCurdy, MD;
Simone A. Glynn, MD,MPH;
Alan E. Williams, PhD;
Ronald Gilcher, MD;
for the Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor Study (REDS)
JAMA. 2001;286:1475-1481.
Context Despite changes in eligibility policies, practical barriers limit blood donations from individuals with hemochromatosis. Increased knowledge of hemochromatosis donor characteristics may help foster further changes that will promote more donations.
Objectives To estimate the prevalence of donors diagnosed as having hemochromatosis and to compare rates of unreported deferrable risks for transfusion-transmissible viral infections (TTVIs), positive screening test results for TTVIs, and donation patterns between hemochromatosis patient donors and donors reporting no medical conditions necessitating phlebotomy (non–health-related donors).
Design An anonymous mail survey conducted in 1998 as part of the ongoing Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor Study.
Setting and Participants Among a stratified probability sample of 92 581 blood donors from 8 geographically diverse US blood centers, 52 650 (57%) responded.
Main Outcome Measures Prevalence of hemochromatosis among blood donors; prevalence of unreported deferrable risks and positive screening test results for TTVIs among hemochromatosis patient donors vs non–health-related donors.
Results One hundred ninety-seven respondents (0.4%) identified themselves as hemochromatosis patients and 50 079 (95.1%) as non–health-related donors. An estimated 0.8% of all donations were from hemochromatosis patients, 45.8% of whom reported that they had donated blood to treat their illness. The proportion of repeat donors was higher in hemochromatosis patients than in non–health-related donors (83.5% vs 76.5%; P = .03). Among repeat donors, 68.7% of hemochromatosis patients reported donating at least 3 times in the past year compared with 49.1% of non–health-related donors (P<.001). The prevalence of unreported deferrable risks for TTVIs was similar in hemochromatosis patients (2.0%) and non–health-related donors(3.1%) as was the overall prevalence of positive screening test results (1.3% of hemochromatosis patients vs 1.6% of non–health-related donors).
Conclusions Although significant numbers of hemochromatosis patients reported donating blood for therapeutic reasons, our findings suggest that this population does not present a greater risk to blood safety than other donors.
Author Affiliations: Westat (Drs Bethel, Schreiber, and Glynn and Ms Sanchez) and the Jerome H. Holland Laboratory, American Red Cross (Dr Williams), Rockville, Md; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Bethesda, Md (Dr McCurdy); and the Sylvan N. Goldman Center, Oklahoma Blood Institute, Oklahoma City (Dr Gilcher). Dr Williams is now with the US Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, Md.
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JAMA. 2001;286(12):1519-1520.
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