title: Number of recent sexual partners among blood donors in Brazil: associations with donor demographics, donation characteristics, and infectious disease markers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Brazilian blood centers ask candidate blood donors about the number of sexual partners in the past 12 months. Candidates who report a number over the limit are deferred. We studied the implications of this practice on blood safety.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed demographic characteristics, number of heterosexual partners, and disease marker rates among 689,868 donations from three Brazilian centers between July 2007 and December 2009. Donors were grouped based on maximum number of partners allowed in the past 12 months for each center. Chi-square and logistic regression analysis were conducted to examine associations between demographic characteristics, number of sex partners, and individual and overall positive markers rates for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), human T-lymphotropic virus Types 1 and 2, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, and syphilis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  First-time, younger, and more educated donors were associated with a higher number of recent sexual partners, as was male sex in São Paulo and Recife (p<0.001). Serologic markers for HIV and syphilis and overall were associated with multiple partners in São Paulo and Recife (p<0.001), but not in Belo Horizonte (p=0.05, p=0.94, and p=0.75, respectively). In logistic regression analysis, number of recent sexual partners was associated with positive serologic markers (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 1.2-1.5), especially HIV (AOR, 1.9-4.4).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Number of recent heterosexual partners was associated with HIV positivity and overall rates of serologic markers of sexually transmitted infections. The association was not consistent across centers, making it difficult to define the best cutoff value. These findings suggest the use of recent heterosexual contacts as a potentially important deferral criterion to improve blood safety in Brazil.
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. ppatavino@gmail.com
authors.forename: Giuseppina Maria
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Patavino
authors.forename: Cesar
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: de Almeida-Neto
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.forename: Alfredo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mendrone-Junior
authors.forename: Maria Inês Lopes
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: Anna Bárbara de Freitas
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Carneiro
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Custer
authors.forename: João Eduardo
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Busch
authors.forename: Ester Cerdeira
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Sabino
mesh_terms: D001782:Blood Donors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D006679:HIV Seropositivity; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000453:epidemiology; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012747:Sexual Partners; D013587:Syphilis / Q000453:epidemiology