Selection strategies for newly registered blood donors in European countries

Blood Transfus. 2017 Oct;15(6):495-501. doi: 10.2450/2016.0107-16. Epub 2016 Sep 27.

Abstract

Background: Two selection strategies for newly-registered blood donors are available: a single-visit selection called the standard selection procedure (SSP), and a two-stage selection named predonation and donation screening (PDS). This study reviews the selection strategies for newly-registered donors currently applied in European countries.

Material and methods: We collected data on donor selection procedures, blood donation, laboratory screening and HIV, HCV and HBV positive donors/donations from 2010 to 2013 in 30 European countries by using questionnaires. We grouped the countries according to the applied selection strategy, and for each country, we calculated the 4-year prevalence of confirmed positive results indicating the presence of overall and recent HIV, HCV and HBV infections among first-time and repeat donations and among newly-registered donors.

Results: Most of the 24 countries (80%) apply the SSP strategy for selection of newly-registered donors. Twenty-two countries (73.3%) employ a nucleic acid amplification testing in addition to the mandatory serological screening. The survey confirms a higher overall prevalence of HIV, HCV and HBV infections among first-time donations and newly-registered donors than among repeat donations. In contrast, the prevalence of recently acquired HIV and HCV infections was lower among first-time donations and newly-registered donors than among repeat donations, but higher for recent HBV infections (6.7/105 vs 2.6/105 in the SSP setting and 4.3/105 vs 0.5/105 in one country using PDS). The relatively low numbers of infected donors selected by PDS impeded accurate assessment of the prevalence of recent infections in first-time donations.

Discussion: The data from European countries provide inconclusive evidence that applying PDS reduces the risk of donations being made in the diagnostic window of first-time donors. The impact of PDS on the risk of window-period donations and blood donor management needs further investigation.

MeSH terms

  • Blood Donors
  • Blood Safety
  • Donor Selection / methods*
  • Europe / epidemiology
  • HIV / isolation & purification
  • HIV Infections / diagnosis
  • HIV Infections / epidemiology
  • Hepacivirus / isolation & purification
  • Hepatitis B / diagnosis
  • Hepatitis B / epidemiology
  • Hepatitis B virus / isolation & purification
  • Hepatitis C / diagnosis
  • Hepatitis C / epidemiology
  • Humans