Minority donation in the United States

Abstract

Background and Objective In the United States, approximately 15 million whole blood products are collected each year from 10 million volunteer donors. African Americans are underrepresented in the donor pool. In 2008, 7% of white versus 4% of African American and Hispanics adults donated in the previous year. The donor rates vary by region in the United States: 77–93% for whites, 1–16% for African Americans and 1–13% for Hispanics. In the Atlanta metropolitan area whose donor pool is 77% white, 16% African American and 4% Hispanic, the blood donor rate (number of blood donors per population) was 11/1000 population for whites, 6/1000 for African Americans and 3/1000 population for Hispanics; and the blood donation rate (number of units donated by population over the total population) was 77 donations/1000 population for whites, 22/1000 population for African Americans and 10/1000 population for Hispanics. Thus, African Americans and Hispanics represent half of the donors as whites when adjusted for their percentage of the population and more strikingly donate a significantly fewer number of units per each donor. Materials and Methods Literature on reasons for racial/ethnic differences in donation rates and methods to address these differences was reviewed. Results The reasons for these differences are multifactorial. First, although 41% of the total US population is estimated to be eligible to donate, African Americans and Hispanics have lower eligibility rates (whites 46%, African Americans 36%, and Hispanics 41%). Second, donor deferral rates are higher for minorities: whites 11%, African Americans 18%, Hispanics 14% and Asians 16%. Deferral is most commonly secondary to temporary deferral reasons such as low hemoglobin level, yet donors are less likely to return once deferred, and thus deferral affects donor and donation rates. Third, minorities may have different motivators and barriers. The most cited motivators to blood donation are more convenient place and times, and being asked; and the most cited barriers are fear of catching a disease and feeling faint/dizzy, and not have time or knowing where to donate. Racial differences in motivating factors identified include African Americans are more likely than whites to donate to receive an item/gift and be tested for infectious disease, and if assured that donating is safe. Notably, these motivators are not the primary cited motivators. African Americans compared with whites more commonly cite fear, difficulty finding veins and not knowing where to donate as deterrents. In addition, African Americans have distrust in the healthcare system, which is correlated with lower donation rates. Fourth, different racial/ethnic groups may have different preferred marketing strategies, including methods of contact, as well as culturally specific motivators for behavioural change. Conclusion Thus, with an improved understanding of these differences as well as accurate tools to measure the outcomes, culturally targeted recruitment programs can be developed to increase donation rates.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 7 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.