Individual Characteristics Associated with Blood Donation: A Cross-National Comparison of the German and Swiss Population between 1994 and 2010

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to compare individual characteristics associated with blood donation in the German and Swiss population between 1994 and 2010. METHODS: Population-based survey data from the Eurobarometer 1994 and 2009, the Swiss Health Survey 1997, and the Swiss Blood Donation Survey 2010 were used to compare age-adjusted percentages of German and Swiss adults ever having donated blood (n = 8,746). A multivariate logistic regression was applied to the pooled data to estimate odds ratios (OR). RESULTS: Donor rates between 1994 and 2010 increased by 8.6% in Germany (p = 0.0045) and remained stable in Switzerland. The likelihood to report donating increased with age. Gender differences (OR = 2.85; p = 0.0000) and differences between education levels were more pronounced in Switzerland as compared to Germany (OR = 2.56; p = 0.0000 and OR = 2.73; p = 0.0010). Furthermore education differences were more marked in men in both countries (OR = 1.99; p = 0.0000 and OR = 1.68; p = 0.0140). CONCLUSION: The blood establishments should intensify their efforts to motivate women and lower educated people to give blood. Our data suggest that population-based surveys could be a helpful tool to describe donor rates in different countries and to guide future recruitment strategies.