[Confidential donor self-exclusion for raising the safety of blood preparations]

Since July 1987 the German Red Cross Baden-Württemberg has practised confidential and anonymous self-exclusion of potential blood donours. The answers given by all donours of the Red Cross Blood Donour Service in Baden-Württemberg (n = 297,648) between 23. 2. 1988 and 31. 1. 1989 were analysed. Virological data of self-exclusion donours (n = 1910) and of a control group (n = 1856) were compared. No donour who had excluded himself was anti-HIV positive, but two of the donours who had designated their blood for transfusion. Those that had excluded their blood donation had a significantly higher prevalence of hepatitis B markers. There was no significantly higher prevalence than among other blood donours with respect to anti-CMV antibodies, syphilis and increased GPT levels. The proportion of male first-time donours was twice as high among self-excluders than among those who released their blood for subsequent donation.