Demographics of successful, unsuccessful and deferral visits at six blood centers over a 4-year period.

Background: Descriptions of donor demographics are of value in formulating recruitment and retention strategies. The demographics of successful (SV), unsuccessful (UV; meaning a nonuseable unit), and deferred (DV) donor visits over a 4-year period were investigated using Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor Study (REDS)-II databases.

Study Design And Methods: Fourteen deferral categories were created that included low hematocrit (Hct) or hemoglobin (Hb), feeling unwell, malaria travel, malaria other, couldn't wait, blood pressure or pulse, medical diagnosis, medication, test results, higher-risk behavior, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), CJD, needle exposure or tattoo, and other.

Adverse reactions and other factors that impact subsequent blood donation visits.

Background: The importance of adverse reactions in terms of donor safety recently has received significant attention, but their role in subsequent donation behavior has not been thoroughly investigated.

Study Design And Methods: Six REDS-II blood centers provided data for this analysis. Summary minor and major adverse reaction categories were created.