How do we decide how representative our donors are for public health surveillance?

Abstract

Background Surveillance of blood donors is fundamental to safety of the blood supply. Such data can also be useful for public health policy but tend to be underutilized. When the COVID‐19 pandemic arrived, blood centers around the world measured blood donor SARS‐CoV‐2 seroprevalence to inform public health policy. There is now a movement toward blood centers becoming more involved in public health research and surveillance post‐pandemic. However, blood donors are a healthy population and not representative of all segments of the general population. In this article, we explain how blood centers can evaluate their donor base to understand which part of the general population they are representative of. Study Design and Methods Methodologic approaches for evaluating samples relative to the target population were reviewed. Blood donor data that are available to most blood centers were identified and application to assess representativeness of blood donors was evaluated. Results Key aspects of blood donor data to compare with general population data include donor selection criteria, health indicators, geography, and demographics. In some cases, statistical adjustment can improve representativeness. Discussion Comparing key blood donor data with corresponding general population data can define the subset of the general population for which a particular blood center's donors may be representative of. We suggest that donors are an ideal convenience population for surveillance of infectious agents which are frequently asymptomatic and main routes of transmission are not deferrable, for studying the natural history of disease in an initially well population, and for vaccination serology surveillance.

The impact of ABO and RhD blood types on Babesia microti infection

“…The blood-donor analysis did not include percent parasitemia, and blood donors are not exactly representative of the general population. For example, blood donors in the US tend to be healthier than the general population [34],…”

“…The blood-donor analysis did not include percent parasitemia, and blood donors are not exactly representative of the general population. For example, blood donors in the US tend to be healthier than the general population [ 34 ], and minorities are underrepresented in the blood-donor pool [ 35 ]. Statistically significant associations with the B antigen and B .…”

Medication use in Canadian blood donors

“…However, as shown in our study, this approach results in a large amount of information to document that is not relevant to eligibility, This would be useful in assessing how easily studies performed on donors reflect the general population [7].…”

“…We hope to obtain data on medication use in the general population from the Canadian Health Measures Survey to determine how closely donors compare with the general population or a selected subset of the general population [6]. This would be useful in assessing how easily studies performed on donors reflect the general population [7].…”

An expanded role for blood donor emerging pathogens surveillance

“…However, donor health criteria are less restrictive than many realize. 4,5 For example, people may donate if they have a history of cardiovascular disease, hyperten sion or diabetes, as long as these are under control. Most people who have had cancer are also eligible after successful treatment.…”