Public perception of the risk of blood transfusion

Health policymakers are concerned about the proportion of people who say they are unwilling to receive a blood transfusion. This article examines how social, cultural, and political factors affect the perceived risk of transfusions.

Data were collected as part of a large national telephone survey of 1204 people conducted in the United States in 1997 and 1998. The survey elicited images associated with blood transfusions and contained questions about the perceived risk of the blood supply, sensitivity to stigma, world views, trust, and demographics.

The results showed that a substantial proportion of people do not consider the US blood supply to be safe and say they would not accept blood if hospitalized. The images evoked most frequently by the stimulus phrase "blood transfusions" were related to AIDS or HIV. The people who tend to perceive the greatest personal and public risk from blood transfusions are female, nonwhite, and less educated, and they have not previously received a transfusion. Sensitivity to stigma, mistrust, one's perceived inability to control hazardous activities and technologies, and fatalistic and egalitarian world views tend to be associated with heightened concern about the risk of blood transfusions.

Risk perceptions need to be monitored to anticipate and deal with problems of public acceptance. Risk management strategies should be tailored to the specific characteristics of individuals that are important determinants of the perceived risk of transfusions.