Gender-neutral assessment in Australia: Acceptance and eligibility among current donors

Blood collection agencies are shifting to gender-neutral risk assessment for donor eligibility. Pre-implementation data on donor eligibility and acceptance rates are essential to understand the likely impact of these changes locally.

A cross-sectional online survey was emailed to current Australian blood donors (donated in the last 12 months). Consistent with the recommendations of the United Kingdom's For the Assessment of Individualised Risk (FAIR) project and the United States of America (USA) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gender-neutral screening criteria, participants were asked about sexual behaviors in the last 3 months (multiple partners, new partners, anal sex) and whether being asked about these would deter them from donating. Demographic characteristics and behavioral responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square tests.

Of 7938 respondents (11.3% response rate), only 0.6% (95% CI 0.4-0.8) would be ineligible under gender-neutral criteria (0.7%, 95% CI 0.2-1.8 of those who donated in the last 3 months). Those potentially ineligible were younger and less likely to identify as heterosexual. While tolerance for screening questions was generally high (≥70.0% indicated questions would not stop them donating), 12.7% (95% CI 12.0-13.4) indicated that one or more of the questions asked of all would stop or be quite likely to stop them attempting to donate. Some variation in tolerance was observed by demographic categories.

Implementation of gender-neutral screening criteria in Australia would result in minimal donor loss due to ineligibility. While questions would be generally tolerated, careful implementation considering demographic variations is warranted.