(P-PH-1) Early experience of recruiting donors into a large cohort study and biobank

Background/Case Studies: Investigators previously demonstrated that our blood donors are highly willing to provide their data and blood samples for long-term health-related research. Having access to a cohort of donors who have consented for their genomic data, and data acquired through surveys along with other sources of linked data will be immensely useful for understanding the health and well-being of blood donors during their donation careers. To enable this, our institution has initiated a large cohort study of blood donors. We have started by assessing the participant recruitment into the study through a soft launch to learn and improve for the larger rollout of the study in 2023.

Study

Design/Methods: Recruitment of participants commenced in November 2022 through a soft launch at two geographically distant donor centres with the aim of gradually increasing the number of recruiting donor centres into 2023 using the learnings from the soft launch. Eligible donors were invited to participate by email two weeks prior to their scheduled appointment. A demographic survey was completed at the time of consent and another health, lifestyle and behavioural survey was sent one week after attendance at the donor centre. Blood samples were collected by donor centre staff at the time of donation and were transported to our biobank located in different State using standard logistics systems.

Results/Findings: From November to December 2022, 473 whole blood donors were invited to be part of the study, with 79 (16.7%) consenting to participate. The average age of the participants was 55 years (±16.5) and 57% were female. On average, participants had a higher number of prior blood donations (26 donations) compared to non-participants (22 donations) (p < 0.001). Of those consenting to participate, 96% also gave permission to link their data to external health data sets. Of the donors who attended, 59 (75%) provided a blood sample for the study. Reasons for not providing a sample included, donor deferral or maximum sample volume were reached.
Collection staff provided feedback to improve the process flow of sample collection and strategies to increase recruitment such as redesigning the tube labels, extending eligibility to apheresis donors as well, and sending an SMS reminder after initial invitation. Operational changes have been incorporated into the recruitment restarting on May 2023. Overall, the study had minimal to no impact on the collection of blood or blood products.

Conclusions: Recruitment of donors into a longitudinal cohort study consisting of a biobank is feasible in our context. Although the participation rate in the two initial centers was low, the recruitment process had minimal impact on the routine collection workflow. Future recruitment will focus on improving the participation rate and sample collection to recruit 6200 donors in the first wave of recruitment.

Importance of research: Through this research, we are creating a panel of blood donors who are providing blood samples to be stored in a biobank and also donating data through longitudinal surveys. These samples and data will be immensely useful to study mid- to long-term health and donation behavior over time. Also, these data and samples can be used to study other health issues applicable to broader public health.