The American Red Cross collects blood from a number of defined subsets of
the donor population and the proportion of blood collected from each subset varies widely
from center to center. A large part of the variation in prevalence of HBsAg may be related
to variations in the proportion of blood collected from plants and factories, military units and
schools or colleges. We have derived a regression equation, significant at the p˂0.001 level,
which links HBsAg prevalence with these collection parameters. Using this equation, we were
able to predict the prevalence of HBsAg among first-time donors in 6 of the 9 geographic
divisions of the United States with an accuracy exceeding 10%. The predictions for the remaining
divisions were within 35% of the actual value. Correlation studies were supported
by measurements of true donor prevalence in three blood centers.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.