INTRODUCTION: The National Blood Collection and Utilization Survey (NBCUS) has demonstrated declines in blood collection and transfusion in the United States since 2008, including declines of 11.6% in red blood cell (RBC) collections and 13.9% in RBC transfusions during 2013-2015. This study described the 2017 NBCUS results. METHODS: The 2017 NBCUS was distributed to all US blood collection centers, all hospitals performing at least 1000 surgeries annually, and a 40% random sample of hospitals performing 100 to 999 surgeries annually. Weighting and imputation were used to generate national estimates for units of blood and components collected, deferred, distributed, transfused, and outdated. RESULTS: Response rates for the 2017 NBCUS were 88% for blood collection centers and 86% for transfusing hospitals. Compared with 2015, the number of RBC units collected during 2017 (12,211,000; 95% confidence interval [CI], 11,680,000-12,742,000) declined by 3.0%, and transfused RBC units (10,654,000, 95% CI, 10,314,000-10,995,000) declined by 6.1%. Distributed platelet (PLT) units (2,560,000; 95% CI, 2,391,000-2,730,000 units) increased by 5.1%, and transfused PLT units (1,937,000, 95% CI, 1,794,000-2,079,000) declined by 2.3%. Distributed plasma units (3,209,000; 95% CI, 2,879,000-3,539,000) declined by 13.6%, and transfused plasma units (2,374,000; 95% CI, 2,262,000-2,487,000) declined by 12.9%. CONCLUSION: The 2017 NBCUS suggests a continued but slowing decline in demand for RBCs. The decline in blood collection and use will likely continue. Despite decreasing demand and increasing manufacturing costs of blood products, the US blood industry has met the regular and emergent needs of the country.

The largest change in RBC use between 2013 and 2015 occurred in surgical settings, with a statistically significant decrease of 41.5%. RBC use was unchanged from 2013 to 2015 in critical care and emergency department settings. There was a statistically significant increase in the number of PLT units used in critical care settings, however, there were no statistically significant changes in PLT use in other settings. | The number of donations and donors presenting for donation have decreased steadily since 2011. In 2013 and 2015, a greater proportion of donors were <18 years of age (13.4% in 2015), ≥65 years of age (12.4% in 2015), and repeat donors (63.6% in 2015). | Prices paid per unit decreased for all major component categories between 2013 and 2015, with statistically significant declines in price paid per unit for leukoreduced red blood cells (median price per unit: $211 in 2015; $221 in 2013), and apheresis PLTs (median price per unit: $524 in 2015; $540 in 2013). Higher surgical volume hospitals paid the lowest prices per unit across component types. | ADDITIONAL FINDINGS | Rates of adverse recipient reactions requiring any diagnostic or therapeutic intervention out of all transfusions were similar between 2013 (1:363) and 2051 (1:373), although there was an increase in the observed rate of reactions that were life threatening (1:41,874 in 2013 and 1:10,925 in 2015). | In 2015, relative parity between donor adverse reaction rates was observed for manual (1:854) and automated (1:786) collections in blood centers and automated collections (1:752) in hospital-based blood centers. There was a higher reaction rate for manual collections (1:237) in hospital-based blood centers. | In 2015, 2% of hospitals and 19% of blood centers reported genotyping for RBC antigens, although at these facilities a small proportion of all units were typed.

BACKGROUND: In 2011 and 2013, the National Blood Collection and Utilization Survey (NBCUS) revealed declines in blood collection and transfusion in the United States. The objective of this study was to describe blood services in 2015. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: The 2015 NBCUS was distributed to all US blood collection centers, all hospitals performing at least 1000 surgeries annually, and a 40% random sample of hospitals performing 100 to 999 surgeries annually. Weighting and imputation were used to generate national estimates for units of blood and components collected, deferred, distributed, transfused, and outdated. RESULTS: Response rates for the 2015 NBCUS were 78.4% for blood collection centers and 73.9% for transfusing hospitals. In 2015, 12,591,000 units of red blood cells (RBCs) (95% confidence interval [CI], 11,985,000-13,197,000 units of RBCs) were collected, and 11,349,000 (95% CI, 10,592,000-11,747,000) were transfused, representing declines since 2013 of 11.6% and 13.9%, respectively. Total platelet units distributed (2,436,000; 95% CI, 2,230,000-2,642,000) and transfused (1,983,000; 95% CI, 1,816,000 = 2,151,000) declined by 0.5% and 13.1%, respectively, since 2013. Plasma distributions (3,714,000; 95% CI, 3,306,000-4,121,000) and transfusions (2,727,000; 95% CI, 2,594,000-2,859,000) in 2015 declined since 2013. The median price paid per unit in 2015-$211 for leukocyte-reduced RBCs, $524 for apheresis platelets, and $54 for fresh frozen plasma-was less for all components than in 2013. CONCLUSIONS: The 2015 NBCUS findings suggest that continued declines in demand for blood products resulted in fewer units collected and distributed Maintaining a blood inventory sufficient to meet routine and emergent demands will require further monitoring and understanding of these trends.

BACKGROUND: In August 2016, the Food and Drug Administration advised US blood centers to screen all whole blood and apheresis donations for Zika virus (ZIKV) with an individual-donor nucleic acid test (ID-NAT) or to use approved pathogen reduction technology (PRT). The cost of implementing this guidance nationally has not been assessed. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Scenarios were constructed to characterize approaches to ZIKV screening, including universal ID-NAT, risk-based seasonal allowance of minipool (MP) NAT by state, and universal MP-NAT. Data from the 2015 National Blood Collection and Utilization Survey (NBCUS) were used to characterize the number of donations nationally and by state. For each scenario, the estimated cost per donor ($3-$9 for MP-NAT, $7-$13 for ID-NAT) was multiplied by the estimated number of relevant donations from the NBCUS. Cost of PRT was calculated by multiplying the cost per unit ($50-$125) by the number of units approved for PRT. Prediction intervals for costs were generated using Monte Carlo simulation methods. RESULTS: Screening all donations in the 50 states and DC for ZIKV by ID-NAT would cost $137 million (95% confidence interval [CI], $109-$167) annually. Allowing seasonal MP-NAT in states with lower ZIKV risk could reduce NAT screening costs by 18% to 25%. Application of PRT to all platelet (PLT) and plasma units would cost $213 million (95% CI, $156-$304). CONCLUSION: Universal ID-NAT screening for ZIKV will cost US blood centers more than $100 million annually. The high cost of PRT for apheresis PLTs and plasma could be mitigated if, once validated, testing for transfusion transmissible pathogens could be eliminated.