title: Blood donor deferral for men who have sex with men: the Blood Donation Rules Opinion Study (Blood DROPS).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In the United States, any man who discloses having had sex with another man (MSM) even once since 1977 is currently deferred from donating blood. A study was conducted to assess noncompliance with the policy at four geographically dispersed blood centers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Male donors 18+ years of age with e-mail addresses were randomly selected and invited to complete a confidential online survey between August and October 2013. No additional recruitment e-mails were sent. Survey content included demographics, sexual history, donation history, compliance with the policy, and opinions about current and modified policies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Response rate was 11.5% but varied by center (6.3% to 21.7%). Of 3183 completed surveys, 2.6% of respondents (95% confidence interval, 2.1%-3.2%) reported donation after male-male sex. Noncompliance was not statistically different among the centers (p = 0.1), but was related to age with 5.7, 4.6, 2.5, and 1.0% of donors 18 to 24, 25 to 34, 35 to 54, and 50+ years of age, respectively, reporting noncompliance (p < 0.001). Of all respondents, 6.8% reported at least six female and 0.3% reported at least six male sex partners in the past 5 years. Opinions about the current MSM policy were mixed with noncomplying donors more supportive of change than complying donors. Approximatey half of noncompliers indicated they would adhere to a 1-year deferral.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Noncompliance with the MSM policy is evident and may be increasing compared to earlier data. Any change from the current policy will require close monitoring to determine whether it affects residual risk of HIV in the US blood supply.
authors.affiliation: Blood Systems Research Institute, San Francisco, California.|Department of Laboratory Medicine, UCSF, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Custer
authors.affiliation: UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sheon
authors.affiliation: UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Bob
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Siedle-Khan
authors.affiliation: UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Lance
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pollack
authors.affiliation: American Red Cross, New England Region, Dedham, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Bryan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Spencer
authors.affiliation: BloodCenter of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Bialkowski
authors.affiliation: Institute for Transfusion Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Pam
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: D'Andrea
authors.affiliation: RTI International, Rockville, Maryland.
authors.forename: Marian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.affiliation: National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), Bethesda, Maryland.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Glynn
authors.affiliation: US Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Williams
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001782:Blood Donors; D046148:Donor Selection; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D018451:Homosexuality, Male; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013997:Time Factors