Blood donor deferrals by reason U.S. 2019

In 2019, there were an estimated 2.47 million blood donor deferrals in the United States. The most common reason for donor deferral was low hemoglobin/hematocrit. This graph shows the estimated number of blood donor deferrals in the United States in 2017 and 2019, by reason.

Number of blood donor deferrals in the United States in 2017 and 2019, by reason (in 1,000s)

Characteristic	2017	2019
Low hemoglobin/hematocrit*	1,115	1,066
Prescription drug use	56	72
Pulse and/or blood pressure	288	278
Other medical reasons**	523	192
High-risk behavior, MSM only***	6	7
High-risk behavior, all other behaviors	20	15
Travel^	114	169
Tattoo/piercing	61	63
Other non-medical reasons	301	529
Total deferrals	2,544	2,472

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Release date

August 2021

More information

Region

United States

Survey time period

2017 and 2019

Method of interview

Online omnibus survey

Supplementary notes

Data is from the National Blood Collection and Utilization Survey (NBCUS).
The 2019 NBCUS "was distributed to all US blood collection centers, all hospitals performing ≥1000 surgeries annually, and a 40% random sample of hospitals performing 100–999 surgeries annually. The response rates for the 2019 NBCUS were 94.3%(50/53) for community-based blood collection facilities, 84% (76/90) for hospital-based blood collection facilities, and 76% (2140/2808) for transfusing hospitals."
* Donors deferred for low hemoglobin included those that do not meet the current FDA blood hemoglobin level requirements for blood donation.
** Other medical reasons may include the use of medications on the medication deferral list, growth hormone from human pituitary glands, Hepatitis B Immune Globulin (HBIG), unlicensed vaccines, or presenting with physical conditions or symptoms that do not qualify a person to be a blood donor.
*** High-risk behavior deferrals include deferrals intended to reduce the risk of transmission of infectious diseases including HIV and hepatitis viruses. Examples of questions intended to identify these risks are sexual contact (men who have sex with men [MSM]) and non-medical injection drug use questions.
^ Travel deferrals are deferrals for travel to a specific region of the world.

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