• 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.