title: Who donates blood at five ethnically and geographically diverse blood centers in China in 2008.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In China recruitment and retention of sufficient numbers of safe blood donors continues to be a challenge. Understanding who donates blood, particularly those who donate larger (>200 mL) whole blood (WB) units, will help blood centers to target more effective recruitment and retention strategies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Demographic characteristics of 226,489 allogeneic WB donors from January to December 2008 at five geographically and ethnically diverse, urban blood centers were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The typical Chinese WB donor can be characterized as first-time volunteer (67.9%), male (56.9%), less than 45 years old (93.8%), and Han ethnicity (86.1%). Most donors had some college or below educational level (77.5%), donated at a mobile collection site (97.6%), and donated 300- or 400-mL units (76.0%). Differences in WB volume donations and donor demographics exist among the five centers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In China compared to the United States, donations are made by younger donors and donors give infrequently and make smaller WB donations. To help ensure supply adequacy, continued efforts are needed to have donors give larger volumes of WB in China.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Blood Transfusion, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jingxing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Xiaoming
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Julin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Guo-Xing
authors.initials: GX
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.forename: Tonghan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Zhongqiao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yun
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: George B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Schreiber
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kavounis
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ness
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001782:Blood Donors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000600:supply & distribution; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D046148:Donor Selection / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018579:Patient Selection; D012042:Registries; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult