The Examination of Blood Donor Correlates: Canada and Toronto

Abstract

<p>BACKGROUND: Canada's aging, heterogeneous population presents a challenge with respect to maintaining a sufficient national blood supply. Patterns of donation and correlates of donor data will be identified through analysis of the data.</p> <p>DATA: Geo-coded blood donor and donor clinic data are provided by Canadian Blood Services. Blood donor data is provided for the fiscal year 2006-2007 indicating the total number of donors for each Canadian postal code, excluding the province of Quebec. Potential con-elates of blood donation are selected based on social and economic characteristics, as well as descriptors of city size and geographical location in the urban hierarchy measures of accessibility, and capacity of donor clinics.</p> <p>METHODS: Data is aggregated to n = 3,746 census tracts in 40 Census Metropolitan Areas (CMA) across the country and then to n = 992 census tracts for the Toronto CMA. The number of donors per population in each Canadian census tract is regressed against the set ofpotential donation con-elates. For the Toronto CMA model, the donor count in each census tract is regressed against similar potential correlates.</p> <p>RESULTS:A number of factors are found to influence blood donation in Canada including the propOliion of younger residents, English ability, proportion of people with immigrant status, higher education, and a population-based measure of accessibility. These findings are confirmed when a model involving the city of Toronto is created. The Toronto model achieves similar correlates as the national model with the addition of variables that are unique to the city of Toronto. These unique attributes involve travel, employment, and gender.</p> <p>CONCLUSION: While a number of correlates of blood donation are observed across Canada, important contextual effects across metropolitan areas are highlighted. These contextual effects are supported by the uniqueness ofthe Toronto model's secondary correlates. The thesis concludes by summarizing what these findings contribute to the field of blood donation in Canada. Further mention is also given regarding the role of spatial filters as a tool in regression analysis.</p>