A Systematic Review of Interventions Used to Increase Blood Donor Compliance with Deferral Criteria

Julia C Cutts; Brendan Quinn; Clive R Seed; George Kotsiou; Ruth Pearson; Nick Scott; David P Wilson; Mary Ellen Harrod; Lisa Maher; Sharon Caris; Alex J Thompson; Michael Farrell; Joanne Pink; Margaret E Hellard

doi:10.1159/000509027

A Systematic Review of Interventions Used to Increase Blood Donor Compliance with Deferral Criteria

Transfus Med Hemother. 2021 Mar;48(2):118-129. doi: 10.1159/000509027. Epub 2020 Jul 23.

Authors

Julia C Cutts¹, Brendan Quinn^{1

2}, Clive R Seed³, George Kotsiou³, Ruth Pearson¹, Nick Scott^{1

2}, David P Wilson¹, Mary Ellen Harrod⁴, Lisa Maher^{1

5}, Sharon Caris⁶, Alex J Thompson⁷, Michael Farrell⁸, Joanne Pink³, Margaret E Hellard^{1

2

9

10}

Affiliations

¹ Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
² Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
³ Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁴ NSW Users and AIDS Association, Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia.
⁵ Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁶ Haemophilia Foundation Australia, Malvern East, Victoria, Australia.
⁷ Department of Gastroenterology, St Vincent's Hospital and the University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁸ National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁹ Department of Infectious Diseases, The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
¹⁰ Doherty Institute and School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Abstract

Background and objectives: Pre-donation screening of potential blood donors is critical for ensuring the safety of the donor blood supply, and donor deferral as a result of risk factors is practised worldwide. This systematic review was conducted in the context of an expert review convened by the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood in 2013 to consider Lifeblood's injecting drug use (IDU)-related policies and aimed to identify studies assessing interventions to improve compliance with deferral criteria in blood donation settings.

Materials and methods: MEDLINE/PubMed, OVID Medline, OVID Embase, LILACS, and the Cochrane Library (CENTRAL and DARE) databases were searched for studies conducted within blood donation settings that examined interventions to increase blood donor compliance with deferral criteria. Observational and experimental studies from all geographical areas were considered.

Results: Ten studies were identified that tested at least one intervention to improve blood donor compliance with deferral criteria, including computerized interviews or questionnaires, direct and indirect oral questioning, educational materials, and a combination of a tickbox questionnaire and a personal donor interview. High-quality evidence from a single study was provided for the effectiveness of a computerized interview in improving detection of HIV risk behaviour. Low-quality evidence for the effectiveness of computerized interviews was provided by 3 additional studies. Two studies reported a moderate effect of direct questioning in increasing donor deferral, but the quality of the evidence was low.

Conclusion: This review identified several interventions to improve donor compliance that have been tested in blood donation settings and provided evidence for the effectiveness of computerized interviews in improving detection of risk factors.

Keywords: Blood donors; Compliance; Deferral; Screening.

Publication types

Systematic Review