Regional Differences Among Bone Marrow Registrants: The Results of a Cross-Sectional Telephone-Based Survey

In the most western and northeastern provincial branches of China where ethnic minorities reside the registry sizes are compatibly small. Our goal was to address the following questions: 1. Do registrants in the 4 regions differ across 4 categories of characteristics associated with decisions to proceed with bone marrow donation? 2. What are the differences in their motivation to attend the CMDP (China Marrow Donor Program)? 3. What possible suggestions could this study supply for the recruitment work of these 4 regions in the future?

A random sampling procedure was conducted to include 2% of 229,204 newly registered potential bone marrow donors. Participants were contacted to complete a 30-minute structured telephone review.

There is a statistically significant effect of region on the causes of donor attrition. For both the opted-out group and ambivalent group of western region registrants, the knowledge (were not fully informed when enrolled) reason was significantly higher than in the other 3 regions. None of the northeast registrants chose "health" as a reason for their ambivalence, in contrast, east registrants had a significantly higher proportion to worry about their health status was not suitable for donation.

The results illustrate that in China at least, the mode of registration differs according to the region, which can guide the registry in their retention strategy. The western regions are more likely to be affected by people around and hope to be contacted regularly to confirm the willingness of donation. Interventions that encouraged bone marrow donors to share their experience in their communities might in turn foster an enhanced registration rate. The northeastern regions were more likely to be affected by the newspaper so the media propaganda will be useful for donor recursion. They were also more likely to have questions about the knowledge of bone marrow donation. Continual communication will help registrants secure information to retain favorable beliefs about donation.