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. 2016 Sep 20;17:458. doi: 10.1186/s13063-016-1579-7

Table 3.

Demographic characteristics of the NHSBT general donor population and of the INTERVAL cohort and trial

Demographics INTERVAL cohort
n (%) or mean (SD) INTERVAL cohort NHSBT general donor population Randomised in INTERVAL trial Not randomised
All donors 48,692 (100.0 %)a 1,330,506 (100.0 %) 45,235 (100.0 %)a 3457 (100.0 %)
Sex
 Male 24,212 (49.7 %) 586,372 (44.1 %) 22,456 (49.6 %) 1756 (50.8 %)
 Female 24,480 (50.3 %) 744,134 (55.9 %) 22,779 (50.4 %) 1701 (49.2 %)
Age at baseline (years) 43.1 (14.3) 42.3 (15.0) 43.3 (14.2) 39.9 (14.7)
Age at baseline
 17–24 6424 (13.2 %) 234,367 (17.6 %) 5679 (12.6 %) 745 (21.6 %)
 25–34 10,236 (21.0 %) 235,238 (17.7 %) 9468 (20.9 %) 768 (22.2 %)
 35–44 9095 (18.7 %) 246,225 (18.5 %) 8500 (18.8 %) 595 (17.2 %)
 45–-54 11,158 (22.9 %) 304,927 (22.9 %) 10,456 (23.1 %) 702 (20.3 %)
 55–-64 8822 (18.1 %) 221,143 (16.6 %) 8362 (18.5 %) 460 (13.3 %)
 65+ 2957 (6.1 %) 88,606 (6.7 %) 2770 (6.1 %) 187 (5.4 %)
Ethnicity
 White 44,192 (90.8 %) 1,207,593 (90.8 %) 41,259 (91.2 %) 2933 (84.8 %)
 Asian 1127 (2.3 %) 31,829 (2.4 %) 941 (2.1 %) 186 (5.4 %)
 Black African 118 (0.2 %) 3852 (0.3 %) 105 (0.2 %) 13 (0.4 %)
 Black Caribbean 307 (0.6 %) 4971 (0.4 %) 271 (0.6 %) 36 (1.0 %)
 Black other 31 (0.1 %) 743 (0.1 %) 29 (0.1 %) 2 (0.1 %)
 Chinese 164 (0.3 %) 3831 (0.3 %) 141 (0.3 %) 23 (0.7 %)
 Mixed 679 (1.4 %) 14,838 (1.1 %) 606 (1.3 %) 73 (2.1 %)
 Other 138 (0.3 %) 3558 (0.3 %) 122 (0.3 %) 16 (0.5 %)
 Unknown 1936 (4.0 %) 59,291 (4.5 %) 1761 (3.9 %) 175 (5.1 %)
Blood group
 A RhD positive (A+) 14,737 (30.3 %) 397,277 (29.9 %) 13,768 (30.4 %) 969 (28.0 %)
 A RhD negative (A-) 3744 (7.7 %) 97,450 (7.3 %) 3489 (7.7 %) 255 (7.4 %)
 B RhD positive (B+) 4244 (8.7 %) 102,650 (7.7 %) 3877 (8.6 %) 367 (10.6 %)
 B RhD negative (B-) 1070 (2.2 %) 27,317 (2.1 %) 993 (2.2 %) 77 (2.2 %)
 O RhD positive (O+) 17,642 (36.2 %) 460,501 (34.6 %) 16,398 (36.3 %) 1244 (36.0 %)
 O RhD negative (O-) 5542 (11.4 %) 138,349 (10.4 %) 5138 (11.4 %) 404 (11.7 %)
 AB RhD positive (AB+) 1293 (2.7 %) 33,817 (2.5 %) 1199 (2.7 %) 94 (2.7 %)
 AB RhD negative (AB-) 402 (0.8 %) 9550 (0.7 %) 368 (0.8 %) 34 (1.0 %)
 Unknown 18 (0.0 %) 63,595 (4.8 %) 5 (0.0 %) 13 (0.4 %)
Distance to nearest static donor centre (miles)b
 0–4 30,405 (62.4 %) 252,068 (18.9 %) 27,971 (61.8 %) 2434 (70.4 %)
 5–9 9801 (20.1 %) 245,652 (18.5 %) 9236 (20.4 %) 565 (16.3 %)
 10–29 7203 (14.8 %) 584,850 (44.0 %) 6832 (15.1 %) 371 (10.7 %)
 30–59 775 (1.6 %) 220,388 (16.6 %) 730 (1.6 %) 45 (1.3 %)
 60+ 98 (0.2 %) 18,045 (1.4 %) 93 (0.2 %) 5 (0.1 %)
 Unknown 410 (0.8 %) 9503 (0.7 %) 373 (0.8 %) 37 (1.1 %)
Donor status at baselinec
 New 1392 (2.9 %) 288,653 (21.7 %) 1147 (2.5 %) 245 (7.1 %)
 Occasional 7912 (16.2 %) 226,507 (17.0 %) 7053 (15.6 %) 859 (24.8 %)
 More frequent 39,388 (80.9 %) 815,346 (61.3 %) 37,035 (81.9 %) 2353 (68.1 %)
Donations (over last 2 years prior to baseline)d
 All donations 3.28 (2.00) 2.24 (2.37) 3.33 (2.00) 2.61 (1.92)
 Whole-blood donations 3.19 (1.81) 2.08 (1.87) 3.23 (1.80) 2.55 (1.80)
 Other donations 0.10 (1.05) 0.16 (1.64) 0.10 (1.07) 0.06 (0.79)
Deferrals (during the 2 years prior to baseline)e
 Deferral for low haemoglobin 3308 (6.8 %) 63,071 (4.7 %) 3094 (6.8 %) 214 (6.2 %)
 Any other deferral 14,628 (30.0 %) 327,747 (24.6 %) 13,632 (30.1 %) 996 (28.8 %)
Length of NHSBT donation history at baseline (years)f 10.7 (8.4) 8.58 (8.44) 10.9 (8.4) 8.47 (8.02)
Venue type attended at baselineg
 Static centre 48,692 (100.0 %) 99,724 (7.5 %) 45,235 (100.0 %) 3457 (100.0 %)
 Mobile 0 (0.0 %) 1,230,782 (92.5 %) 0 (0.0 %) 0 (0.0 %)

aThe characteristics of 33 donors in the INTERVAL cohort (of whom 28 are in the INTERVAL trial) could not be identified in the PULSE database due to merged donor records

bThe correspondence address (used to calculate ’Distance to nearest static donor centre’ and derive ’Region’) was correct at the time the data were extracted from PULSE (Nov 2015). Historical correspondence addresses were not available in PULSE

c ’New’ has been defined according to the classification used by NHSBT, i.e. an individual who has not previously provided a full donation is considered to be a new donor. ’Occasional’ and ’More frequent’ have been defined as less than or equal to two full donations in the last 5 years and more than two full donations in the last 5 years, respectively

dIncluding donations where volume equals ’Normal’, ’Overweight’ or ’Missing’ (not including donations where volume equals ’Empty’ or ’Underweight’)

eDeferrals during the 2 years prior to baseline were summarised as counts of people with a deferral for low haemoglobin levels and more generally deferral for reasons other than low haemoglobin

fLength of donation history with NHSBT at baseline was defined as the period of time between baseline and the minimum of date of registration, date of first attendance (whether successful or not) and date of first successful donation

gFor venue type, some old venues that are no longer used do not have an associated PULSE venue code. In these cases, although venue type was missing, because the only venues that were no longer being used were mobile venues, we have assumed that the venue type was mobile

SD, Standard deviation