title: Is having sex with other men a risk factor for transfusion-transmissible infections in male blood donors in Western countries? A systematic review.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although increased prevalence of transfusion transmissible infections (TTI) among "men who have sex with men" (MSM) has been well documented, the exclusion of MSM as blood donors is contested. The aim of this systematic review is to find studies that describe the risk of TTI in MSM blood donors.
  
  
  METHODS
  We searched MEDLINE, Embase, The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Cinahl, and Web of Science, and used GRADE for determining evidence quality. We included studies comparing MSM and non-MSM blood donors (or people eligible to give blood), living in areas most relevant for our Blood Service.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of 18 987 articles, 14 observational studies were included. Two studies directly compared MSM with non-MSM donors showing that MSM donors have a statistically significant higher risk of HIV-1 infections. In one of these studies it was shown that this was related to recent (< 12 months) MSM contact. In two additional studies no evidence was shown in favour of a certain deferral period for MSM. Ten studies, applying permanent deferral for MSM, compared infected versus non-infected donors. One study found that MSM is a statistically significant risk factor for HIV-1 infection in blood donors. For other TTI such as HBV or HCV, an increased risk of infection could not be demonstrated, because the precision of the results was affected by the low numbers of donors with MSM as risk factor, or because of risk of bias in the included studies. All studies included low level evidence, because of risk of bias and imprecision of the results.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High-quality studies investigating the risk of TTI in MSM who donate blood are scarce. The available evidence suggests a link between MSM blood donors and HIV-1 infection, but is too limited to be able to unambiguously/clearly recommend a certain deferral policy.
authors: Centre for Evidence-Based Practice, Belgian Red Cross-Flanders, Mechelen, Belgium.
authors: Emmy
authors: E
authors: De Buck
authors: Centre for Evidence-Based Practice, Belgian Red Cross-Flanders, Mechelen, Belgium.
authors: Tessa
authors: T
authors: Dieltjens
authors: Blood Service, Belgian Red Cross-Flanders, Mechelen, Belgium; Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium.
authors: Veerle
authors: V
authors: Compernolle
authors: Belgian Red Cross-Flanders, Mechelen, Belgium; Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Faculty of Medicine, University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium.
authors: Philippe
authors: P
authors: Vandekerckhove
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001782:Blood Donors; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000472:pathogenicity; D018451:Homosexuality, Male; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D065227:Transfusion Reaction