title: Trends in age and red blood cell donation habits among several racial/ethnic minority groups in the United States.
abstract: To meet the needs of a diverse patient population, an adequate supply of red blood cells (RBCs) from ethnic/racial minority donors is essential. We previously described the 10-year changes in minority blood donation in the United States. This study describes donation patterns by donor status, age, and race/ethnicity.
  
  
  
  Data on the age and the number of unique black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, and white RBC donors were obtained from eight US blood collectors for 2006, 2009, 2012, and 2015. Donors self-identified their race/ethnicity. First-time (FT) and repeat (R) donors were analyzed separately.
  
  
  
  Overall, for both FT and R donor groups, whites constituted the majority of unique donors (FT 66.7% and R 82.7%) and also donated the greatest proportion of RBC units (FT 66.6% and R 83.8%). Donors less than 20 years old comprised the greatest proportion of FT donors for all racial/ethnic groups (39.2%) and had the highest mean number of RBC donations per donor (1.12) among FT donors. Conversely, R donors less than 20 years old had some of the lowest mean number of RBC donations per donor (1.55) among R donors, whereas R donors at least 60 years old had the highest mean (1.88). Year by year, the percentage of FT donors who were less than 20 years old increased for all race/ethnicities. For R donors, whites were more frequently older, while Hispanics/Latinos and Asians were younger.
  
  
  
  Greater efforts to convert FT donors less than 20 years into R donors should be undertaken to ensure the continued diversity of the blood supply.
authors.affiliation: The Institute for Transfusion Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Mark H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Yazer
authors.affiliation: Blood Systems, Inc, Scottsdale, Arizona.
authors.forename: Ralph
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vassallo
authors.affiliation: Bloodworks Northwest, Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: Meghan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Delaney
authors.affiliation: Héma Québec, Québec City, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Germain
authors.affiliation: Blood Center of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
authors.forename: Matthew S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Karafin
authors.affiliation: Carter BloodCare and the University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, Texas.
authors.forename: Merlyn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sayers
authors.affiliation: Sanquin Blood Services, Leiden, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Leo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: van de Watering
authors.affiliation: New York Blood Center, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Beth H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Shaz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001782:Blood Donors; D004912:Erythrocytes; D005006:Ethnicity; D006184:Habits; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D008913:Minority Groups; D014481:United States