To give or not to give

Abstract

In this issue of Blood, Switzer and colleagues report results from a phone survey of 1067 people called on by the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) as potential donors because they were preliminary matches with patients in need of a transplant.(1) The study found that people who do not proceed with donation tend to be younger and have lower socioeconomic status, worse self-reported health, and more concerns about donation. The greatest predictor of opting out of donation was high ambivalence. Switzer et al suggest ways that donor ambivalence could be minimized, in hopes of increasing the likelihood of potential donors proceeding with donation.