Infectious disease markers in autologous blood donors and first-time volunteer blood donors: 14 years' experience in a blood center

The proportion of blood donors with positive infectious disease markers was statistically higher in our population of 3,614 autologous donors than in our population of 276,106 first-time volunteer donors (p<0.005). Our data suggest that our autologous donor population is not as safe as our first-time volunteer donor population.