Epidemiological Profiles of Foreign-Born and US-Born Hispanic Blood Donors in a Major Metropolitan Area in the United States

Background. The explosive growth of Hispanics in the US makes this population a significant and untapped source for blood donation. Methods. A cross-sectional study was performed to evaluate blood donation behaviors and demographics of foreign-born and US-born Hispanic donors between 2006 and 2009 in metropolitan Atlanta, GA, USA. Bivariate analyses and multivariate logistic regression were used to assess factors associated with foreign-born donors. Results. 5,119 foreign-born and 11,841 US-born Hispanics donated blood. Foreign-born Hispanic donors were more likely than US-born donors to be blood group O (57.6% versus 52.0%; P < .001) and more frequent donors (2.2 versus 2.0; P < .001). Cuban-born donors had the highest rates of return donation (63.2%). In contrast, Mexicans, the most prevalent subpopulation among foreign-born Hispanic donors (31.8%), had the lowest rates of return donation (42.0%). Conclusions. The heterogeneity found among Hispanic donors in this study is valuable for the design of recruitment strategies to increase blood donations.