Characterization of Regular Blood Donors in Eastern Taiwan

• Main Authors: Ching-Mei Yu, 余靜美
• Other Authors: Shu-Hui Wen
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2015
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/70657687114535790348

碩士 === 慈濟大學 === 公共衛生學系碩士班 === 103 === Background and motivation：For adequate blood supply, one effective strategy is to retain blood donors to have regular return donating behaviors. Several studies were conducted in Western countries, but few studies focus on blood donors in Taiwan. The aim of this study is to examine factors associated with regular blood donors. Methods: We adopted a retrospective cohort study based on secondary database contained blood donation records in Eastern Taiwan. First-time whole blood donors were included from 2005 to 2009 and followed for their return donating behaviors in the subsequent 4 years. Regular donors were defined as who had donated records at least two following years. We utilized logistic regression analysis to identify factors associated with regular donors, while controlling for demographics and blood donation related variables. Result: A total of 35,007 first-time blood donors resided in Eastern Taiwan were included, the regular blood donors accounted for about 26% (n=9,014). As most students and soldiers tend to move to other non-Eastern counties during a 4-year follow-up period, we separated samples into student/soldier group (n=22,933) and other occupations group (n=12,074) in terms of occupation. Similar to previous studies, donation frequency in the first-year and older age were significantly positively correlated with regular blood donation behaviors regardless of occupation groups. For student/soldier group, soldiers were less likely to be regular donors (odds ratio (OR)=0.47, 95% CI: 0.4-0.52). Dissimilarly to studies conducted in Western countries, we found that women were more likely to donate their blood regularly (OR=1.20, 95% CI: 1.09-1.32) in other occupations group. Conclusion: Overall, donation frequency in the first-year and older age are associated with regular blood donors. Our results are useful for development of strategies targeted on retaining donors to give blood regularly.