title: Recent viral infection in US blood donors and health-related quality of life (HRQOL).
abstract: Blood donors are considered to be one of the healthiest populations, but relatively little is known about their perceived quality of life. The objective was to examine HRQOL in donors infected with HIV, HBV, HCV or HTLV and a comparison group.
  
  
  
  Donors with confirmed viral infection (cases) and donors who tested false-positive (controls) participated in a multicenter study of US blood donors (2010-2013), funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI). HRQOL was measured by the EuroQol Five Dimension (EQ-5D) instrument and EQ-5D visual analogue scale (VAS). The lower 25th ‰ of EQ-5D index or VAS score of controls was defined as a "lower HRQOL."
  
  
  
  A total of 1574 controls completed the HRQOL assessment with a mean EQ-5D index of 0.94 (SD = 0.10) and EQ-VAS of 87.6 (SD = 10.6). Mean EQ-5D index for 192 HIV-, 315 HCV- and 195 HTLV-positive donors were significantly lower than the controls (0.86, 0.83 and 0.87; SD = 0.18, 0.20 and 0.16, respectively, p < 0.001). HBV-positive donors (n = 290) had a similar mean EQ-5D index (0.93, SD = 0.14, p = 0.05) to controls. Anxiety/depression was reported by 34 % of cases, compared with 13 % of controls. In multivariable modeling, the odds of lower HRQOL in HIV, HBV, HCV and HTLV cases were 2.1, 1.6, 2.6 and 2.3 times that of controls, respectively (p < 0.05).
  
  
  
  HRQOL reported by blood donors with recent viral infections was relatively high but lower than controls. On average, HRQOL among HCV-positive donors was the lowest and HBV-positive donors reported scores similar to donors without infection.
authors.affiliation: Blood Systems Research Institute, 270 Masonic Avenue, San Francisco, CA, 94118, USA. Fvahidnia@bloodsystems.org.
authors.forename: Farnaz
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1130-4643
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vahidnia
authors.affiliation: American Red Cross, Gaithersburg, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Susan L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Stramer
authors.affiliation: New York Blood Center, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Debra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kessler
authors.affiliation: New York Blood Center, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shaz
authors.affiliation: OneBlood, Tampa, FL, USA.
authors.forename: German
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Leparc
authors.affiliation: American Red Cross, Gaithersburg, MD, USA.
authors.forename: David E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Krysztof
authors.affiliation: National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Simone A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Glynn
authors.affiliation: Blood Systems Research Institute, 270 Masonic Avenue, San Francisco, CA, 94118, USA.|University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Custer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001782:Blood Donors / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Acute viral hepatitis; Blood donors; EQ-5D; HIV infection; HTLV infection; Health-related quality of life