Trends in US minority red blood cell unit donations

Abstract

BACKGROUND To provide the appropriately diverse blood supply necessary to support alloimmunized and chronically transfused patients, minority donation recruitment programs have been implemented. This study investigated temporal changes in minority red blood cell (RBC) donation patterns in the United States. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS Data on donor race and ethnicity from 2006 through 2015, including the number of unique donors, collections, RBCs successfully donated, and average annual number of RBC donations per donor (donor fraction), were collected from eight US blood collectors. Minority donors were stratified into the following groups: Asian, black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Native Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, white, multiracial/other, and no answer/not sure. RESULTS Over the 10‐year period, white donors annually constituted the majority of unique donors (range, 70.7%‐73.9%), had the greatest proportion of collections (range, 76.1%‐79.8%), and donated the greatest proportion of RBC units (range, 76.3%‐80.2%). These donors also had the highest annual donor fraction (range, 1.82‐1.91 units per donor). Black or African American donors annually constituted between 4.9 and 5.2% of all donors during the study period and donated between 4.0 and 4.3% of all RBC units. Linear regression analysis revealed decreasing numbers of donors, collections, and donated RBC units from white donors over time. CONCLUSION Although the US population has diversified, and minority recruitment programs have been implemented, white donors constitute the majority of RBC donors and donations. Focused and effective efforts are needed to increase the proportion of minority donors.

Frequent blood donations alter susceptibility of red blood cells to storage‐ and stress‐induced hemolysis

“…Female frequent donors were also likely to be of older age and white. These characteristics of frequent donors are similar to recent reports from the Biomedical Excellence for Safer Transfusion (BEST) study of donation patterns in the U.S. 26,27 , and an assessment of frequent blood donors in Australia. 24 Of note, the current study included a cohort of 1976 non-Hispanic white donors categorized as high-intensity donors (Figure 1), who comprised the majority of frequent donors with a history of 9 or more donations in the prior 24-months.…”

Low prevalence red blood cell antigens: transfusions, babies, and changing demographics

“…The US donor population is less diverse than the community at large. Based on 2010 demographic data collected by eight blood collection facilities in 17 states, 72.1% of donors were white, 8.5% were Hispanic, 4.9% were African American, 3.2% were Asian, and 1.0% were other groups . In the same year, the US population was 63.7% white, 16.3% Hispanic, 12.6% African American, 4.8% Asian, and 1.1% other groups.…”

Transfusion Support of Minority Patients: Extended Antigen Donor Typing and Recruitment of Minority Blood Donors

“…Of annual blood donors in the US, the authors found that African Americans represent only 5% of donors, compared with approximately 74% that were Caucasian [2]. The discrepancy is even greater for repeat donors who are predominantly older white donors (about 83% of repeat donors are white) [1].…”

“…In order to increase donations, minority recruitment programs have been implemented. Unfortunately, these programs have been unsuccessful in substantially increasing repeat donations from minority populations to adequately match the needs of an increasingly diversifying population [2]. Social media campaigns for organ donation have been successful in increasing donations and could represent an underutilized strategy for donor centers to recruit younger, more diverse donors and convert them to repeat donors [35].…”

“…Some patients may require antigen-matched RBCs for transfusion. The ancestral genetic background of a patient can impact accessibility of antigen-matched blood RBC products when the patient does not share ancestry with the majority of blood donors in the population [1,2]. For example, RBC transfusion is a key component in the treatment of patients with sickle cell disease (SCD).…”