Barriers and motivators to blood and cord blood donations in young African-American women

The primary aim of this study was to assess potential barriers and motivators to blood and cord blood donation among African-American women. A telephone survey of African-American women, ages 18-30 years, in the St. Louis metropolitan area was performed. The survey was administered by trained telemarketing personnel using a Computer-Assisted Direct Interview (CADI) system. One hundred sixty-two women were surveyed. Common barriers to blood donation were inconvenience of donor sites (19%), fear of needles (16%), and too much time required to donate (15%). Potential motivators were increasing awareness of need for blood (43%), increasing the number of convenient donor locations (19%), and encouragement by spiritual leaders to have blood drives at their church (17%). Lack of awareness was the only identified barrier to cord blood donation. Most women surveyed (88%) indicated that they definitely or probably would donate cord blood. Strategies to increase the proportion of African-American blood and cord blood donations may include educating potential donors about the process and benefits of donation to particular patient populations and engaging church leadership in supporting blood and cord blood donations.     

Exposure to hepatitis A virus among blood donors, injecting drug users and prison entrants in Victoria

To assess prevalence of exposure to hepatitis A virus (HAV) among injecting drug users (IDUs) and prison entrants in Victoria, and to compare this with prevalence of HAV among a reference population of blood donors, sera stored from two previous studies and from randomly selected blood donors were tested for total antibody to HAV. The first study was a longitudinal study of field-recruited IDUs from 1990 to 1992 and the second was a study of all prison entrants in 1991–92 (both studies were carried out in Victoria); blood donors were from the Australian Red Cross Blood Bank Victoria in 1995. Forty five per cent of 2175 prison entrants and 51% of 293 IDUs were seropositive for HAV, compared with 30% of 2995 blood donors. When standardized for age against the blood donors, HAV seropositivity in IDUs was 44% and in prison entrants 60%. The strongest association of HAV seropositivity among the IDUs on multivariate analysis was a history of imprisonment. There are high rates of exposure to HAV among prison entrants, whether with a history of IDU or not, and among IDUs who have a prison history. The role of sharing contaminated injecting equipment in transmission of HAV seems to be less important than institutionalization per se. With adequate resourcing, both populations are appropriate targets for HAV vaccination, especially in a context of continuing decline of transmission of HAV in the general community.     

临床科学合理用血成效性调查分析

目的:了解近5年解放军117医院临床用血现状,探讨如何科学合理用血,提高有限血液资源的利用率。方法:2009-2013年间手术和住院患者红细胞用量和各成份用血量的统计,并进行比较分析。结果:医院手术量逐年攀升,患者红细胞平均用血量呈下降趋势,冷沉淀和血小板的使用量有所增加,成分输血率每年均达到99%以上。结论:在血液紧缺的情况下,通过加强科学合理用血,减少了血液浪费,提高了血液利用率,初见成效。