ArticlePloS one2017
Associations of health status with subsequent blood donor behavior-An alternative perspective on the Healthy Donor Effect from Donor InSight.
Article in PloS one, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 57 citations in OpenAlex.
- Associations between whole blood donation and cancer incidence: a systematic review.BMC cancer · 2026Pooled it
- Plasma donation rates and infection risk: A multicentre observational study in Denmark.Vox sanguinis · 2026Observational
- Protection of fundamental human rights by improving patient access to plasma-derived therapies and donor health protection.Vox sanguinis · 2026Review
- Beyond donor eligibility: nutritional and lifestyle heterogeneity and implications for long-term donor health preservation.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Health behaviors of blood donors in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional comparative study with non-donors.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Blood donor populations reveal a clear association between ferritin and change in haemoglobin levels.British journal of haematology · 2025Article
- Can Health Literacy Effectively Enhance Blood Donation Rates?Indian journal of hematology & blood transfusion : an official journal of Indian Society of Hematology and Blood Transfusion · 2025Article
- L-Arginine and Nitric Oxide in Vascular Regulation-Experimental Findings in the Context of Blood Donation.Nutrients · 2025Review
- Effect of SARS-CoV-2 Infection on Selected Parameters of the Apelinergic System in Repeat Blood Donors.Biomedicines · 2024Article
- SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in Canadian blood donors: Insight into donor representativeness of the general population.Vaccine: X · 2024Article
- Temporal trends in disparities in COVID-19 seropositivity among Canadian blood donors.International journal of epidemiology · 2024Article
- Exploration of the Healthy Donor Effect Among 0.6 Million Blood Donors in China: Longitudinal Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2024Article
- Impacts of cigarette smoking on blood circulation: do we need a new approach to blood donor selection?Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2023Review
- Eligibility Considerations for Female Whole Blood Donors: Hemoglobin Levels and Iron Status in a Nationally Representative Population.Transfusion medicine reviews · 2023Article
- The healthy donor effect and survey participation, becoming a donor and donor career.Transfusion · 2023Article
- A Cross-Sectional Study of Blood Donors' Psychological Characteristics over 8 Weeks.Transfusion medicine and hemotherapy : offizielles Organ der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Transfusionsmedizin und Immunhamatologie · 2022Article
- Lipid and Haematologic Profiling of Regular Blood Donors Revealed Health Benefits.Journal of blood medicine · 2022Article
- Cohort Profile: The Shaanxi Blood Donor Cohort in China.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2022Article
- Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Sleep Quality, Stress Level and Health-Related Quality of Life-A Large Prospective Cohort Study on Adult Danes.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Demographic, clinical, and biochemical predictors of pica in a large cohort of blood donors.Transfusion · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionIn donor health research, the 'Healthy Donor Effect' (HDE) often biases study results and hampers their interpretation. This refers to the fact that donors are a selected 'healthier' subset of a population due to both donor selection procedures and self-selection. Donors with long versus short donor careers, or with high versus low donation intensities are often compared to avoid this HDE, but underlying health differences might also cause these differences in behaviour. Our aim was to estimate to what extent a donor´s perceived health status associates with donation cessation and intensity.
methodsAll active whole blood donors participating in Donor InSight (2007-2009; 11,107 male; 12,616 female) were included in this prospective cohort study. We performed Cox survival and Poisson regression analyses to assess whether self-reported health status, medication use, disease diagnosed by a physician and recently having consulted a general practitioner (GP) or specialist were associated with (time to) donation cessation and donation intensity.
resultsAt the end of 2013, 44% of the donors in this study had stopped donating. Donors in self-rated good health had a 15% lower risk to stop donating compared to donors in perceived poorer health. Medication use, disease diagnoses and consulting a GP were associated with a 20-40% increased risk to stop donating and a lower donation intensity, when adjusting for age, number of donations and new donor status. Both men and women reporting good health made on average 10% more donations.
conclusionDonors with a "good" health status were less likely to stop donating blood and tended to donate blood more often than donors with perceived poorer health status. This implies that the HDE is an important source of selection bias in studies on donor health and this includes studies where comparisons within donors are made. This HDE should be adjusted for appropriately when assessing health effects of donation and donors' health status may provide estimates of future donation behavior.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.