Racial and ethnic composition of volunteer cord blood donors: comparison with volunteer unrelated marrow donors.
BACKGROUND
Umbilical cord blood is an alternative peripheral blood progenitor cell source for patients who need transplantation. A presumed advantage of cord blood is the ability to increase minority recruitment.


METHODS
The racial composition of five member cord blood banks of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) was compared, representing 9020 cord blood donors with NMDP marrow donors from comparable geographic areas, representing 417,676 donors. Cord blood and marrow donors self-reported racial designations on questionnaires. Donor statistics were compared with baseline racial data of deliveries from participating hospitals for cord blood donors and with geographic census data for marrow donors.


RESULTS
The California, Florida, and Massachusetts cord blood banks recruited a lower percentage of minorities than the corresponding marrow donor centers. In New York and Colorado, minority recruitment was equivalent. In California, Florida, Massachusetts, and New York, the cord blood banks recruited a lower percentage of minorities than those delivering at the respective hospitals. The cord blood banks in California, Colorado, Florida, and Massachusetts recruited a lower percentage of minorities compared with delivery data than the corresponding marrow donor centers compared with census population (p < 0.001). In New York, the percentages were similar.


CONCLUSIONS
The problem of insufficient minority recruitment of cord blood has not yet been solved. Better strategies are needed to recruit minority donors.
Ballen
Karen K
KK
American Red Cross Cord Blood Program, University of Massachusetts Memorial Health Care, Worcester, MA, USA. kballen@partners.org
Hicks
Julie
J
Dharan
Bernie
B
Ambruso
Daniel
D
Anderson
Kenneth
K
Bianco
Celso
C
Bemiller
Lynn
L
Dickey
William
W
Lottenberg
Richard
R
O'Neill
Mary
M
Popovsky
Mark
M
Skerrett
Donna
D
Sniecinski
Irena
I
Wingard
John R
JR
D000328:Adult; D001771:Blood Banks / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001782:Blood Donors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001853:Bone Marrow; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011247:Pregnancy; D044469:Racial Groups; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D020858:Tissue and Organ Harvesting / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States; D014838:Volunteers