[Risk behavior among blood donors: efficacy of a new questionnaire]

The clinical selection of volunteers for blood donation is essential to reduce the risk of viral transmission by blood transfusion. The aim of this study was to evaluate a new questionnaire for a pre-donation medical interview. This questionnaire was developed by transfusion practitioners, epidemiologists and professional investigators, and focused on risk behaviors of blood donors and their partners. Five blood banks in the French Ile-de-France region (around Paris), participated in the study from May 1995 to January 1996. All participating doctors were specifically trained by professional investigators. The sex and the age of donors, the type of collection, the duration of interviews and the reasons for exclusion from donation were recorded. The results were compared to those of a prior study dealing with a sample of 15,000 donors presenting the same characteristics, whose blood was taken of at the same collection sites in 1993. Of the 1,527 volunteers donating blood, 14% were interviewed in fixed centers and 86% by moving teams (38% in firms, 22% in towns, 13% in civil service facilities, 13% in school or academic centers). For 15.9% of the volunteers, this was the first donation (range: 7.3% in fixed centers to 41.5% in school and academic centers). The mean duration of the interview was 11 min (10 min for volunteers included, 14 min for donors excluded from donation). It decreased from 14 min at the beginning of the study to 10 min by the end of the study. The percentage of donors excluded for risk behavior (3.7% in 1995-96 vs 1.5% in 1993, P < 0.001), or medical reasons (12.2% in 1995-96 vs 8.4%, in 1993, P < 0.001) was significantly greater in 1995-96 than in 1993 (15.9% vs 9.9%, P < 0.001). In 1995-96, 35.0% of exclusions for risk behavior were related to male homosexuality, multiple partners or the risk behavior of the partner vs 12% in 1993 (P < 0.001). The risk of exclusion was 5.5 times higher for donors not living in a couple. The results obtained demonstrated the value of this new approach to the medical interview.