Change of the deferral rate of volunteer apheresis donors by the new edition of the 'German Guidelines for Blood Grouping and Blood Transfusion (Haemotherapy)'

Background: The consequences of the new edition of the 'German Guidelines f or Blood Grouping and Blood Transfusion (Haemotherapy)' for aptitude tests of haemapheresis donors were studied. Material and Methods: During a 19-mon th period the reasons for exclusion and deferral of first-time donors were retrospectively evaluated, and the resulting exclusion and deferral rates i n accordance with the old and the new edition of the German guidelines were calculated. Results: From January 1995 to July 1996 979 first-time donors for haemapheresis donations were tested. Based on the old edition of the gu idelines, 4.6% of the first-time donors were excluded and 16.8% were tempor arily deferred after taking the health history. From 770 persons blood and urine samples and ECGs were taken. Due to pathological results 5% of the fi rst-time donors were excluded and 13.5% were temporarily deferred. Using th e new edititon of the guidelines, 12.5% of the first-time donors would have been deferred after taking the health history and 7.9% because of patholog ical laboratory tests. The new edition of the guidelines did not change the exclusion rate of first-time donors. Conclusion: The new edition of the 'G erman Guidelines for Blood Grouping and Blood Transfusion (Haemotherapy)' r educes the deferral rate of voluntary first-time donors. Nevertheless, the deferral rate of first-time donors in Germany exceeds the deferral rates re ported from other countries.