title: Impact of a 5-year deferral from blood donation for men who have sex with men.
abstract: The deferral for men who have sex with men (MSM) changed from a permanent deferral since 1977 to a 5-year deferral on July 22, 2013, in Canada. We assessed the impact on safety and adequacy of the blood supply at Canadian Blood Services.
  
  
  
  Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) rates were monitored from January 1, 2010, to July 21, 2015. Risk factors were assessed in notification interviews. Anonymous online surveys of male whole blood donors assessed compliance before and after implementation.
  
  
  
  HIV rates were 0.2, 0.5, and 0.51 per 100,000 donations in 2010 to 2012; they were 0.54 and 0.22 in the first and second years after implementation (p = 0.8). Of four male HIV-positive donors after implementation, three denied risk factors and one knew he had HIV. Before implementation 9669 of 19,437 (49.7%) donors participated in the survey, and after implementation, 6881 of 18,934 (36.3%). Before implementation 0.67% of male donors were noncompliant, and after implementation, 0.44%. There was no difference before versus after implementation in male donors with MSM history in the past 5 years (0.37% vs. 0.43%, p = 0.54). After implementation, eligible MSM donors increased (0.42% vs. 0.66%, p = 0.04), with approximately 500 more donors in 2014.
  
  
  
  Implementation of a 5-year deferral for MSM had no impact on HIV rates in 2 years of postimplementation monitoring. Donor compliance improved after implementation due to MSM donors who were previously ineligible becoming eligible. There was no change in the percentage of male donors with recent male partners but there was a modest increase in eligible MSM in the donor pool.
authors.affiliation: Canadian Blood Services, Ottawa, Ontario.|School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Sheila F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: O'Brien
authors.affiliation: Canadian Blood Services, Ottawa, Ontario.
authors.forename: Lori
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Osmond
authors.affiliation: Canadian Blood Services, Ottawa, Ontario.
authors.forename: Wenli
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Canadian Blood Services, Ottawa, Ontario.|School of Epidemiology, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Qi-Long
authors.initials: QL
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.affiliation: Canadian Blood Services, Ottawa, Ontario.|Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Mindy
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goldman
mesh_terms: D001782:Blood Donors / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D058731:Blood Safety; D002170:Canada; D046148:Donor Selection / Q000379:methods*; D062665:Epidemiological Monitoring; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission; D018451:Homosexuality, Male; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires