A COMPARISON OF RELATED AND UNRELATED MARROW DONORS

Objective: The purpose of this investigation is to test whether relate d bone marrow donors experience more distress from marrow donation tha n volunteer unrelated donors. Method: Participants in the study were 7 7 related and unrelated marrow donors who agreed to complete 11 pre-an d 8 postdonation self report questionnaires. Related and unrelated don ors were recruited from the Bone Marrow Transplant Programs at the Bri gham and Women's Hospital and the Massachusetts General Hospital in Bo ston, MA. Additional unrelated donors were recruited from the American Red Cross-Carolinas and the Heart of America Bone Marrow Donor Regist ry in Kansas City, MO. Results: The 41 unrelated and 36 related marrow donors who participated in this prospective study had similar demogra phic backgrounds and predonation questionnaire results, although relat ed donors endorsed more items on the Beck Depression Inventory, both b efore and after marrow harvesting. After marrow donation, related dono rs reported significantly more pain than unrelated donors (p = .0001). Conclusions: It is unlikely that intraoperative events alone could ac count for the increased pain experienced by related donors. Related do nors were more likely to experience moderate to severe physical pain a fter marrow donation than unrelated donors, on the basis of logistic r egression analysis (odds ratio = 7.63; 95% confidence interval 2.74, 2 3.01).