Red Blood Cells (RBC) and whole blood cell transfusions have been reported to decrease by approximately 10% in the last ten years, there has been a greater decline in the units of blood collected, thus availability of blood products is at risk. An epidemiologic study has evaluated eligible donors in US, based on donor exclusion factors (i.e. comorbidities, transmissible infections and at risk sexual contacts). In the last decade in US 34 million more potential blood donors have become available due to increase in the general population. Once donor exclusion factors were taken into account, however, the blood donor pool rate resulted not consistently increased. The vast majority of subjects who are eligible to donate blood do not, donor recruitment must be implemented to ensure a stable blood supply.
Reference:
To L, Dunnington T, Thomas C, Love K, McCullough J, and W Riley. The United States’ potential blood donor pool: updating the prevalence of donor-exclusion factors on the pool of potential donors.