Population
Male blood donors from the INTERVAL trial (n=20574).
Intervention
Simulation using INTERVAL trial data of five different methods of determining personalised inter-donation intervals.
Comparison
Standard inter-donation intervals for all male donors: 12 weeks, 10 weeks, and 8 weeks over two years.
Outcome
Findings were fairly consistent across the different approaches applied: when targeting the maximization of the total units of blood collected, almost all donors are assigned to the 8 weeks inter-donation interval. If aiming at minimizing the low haemoglobin deferral rates, almost all donors are assigned to donate every 12 weeks. When the goal was to maximize the utility score that "discounts" the total units of blood collected by the incidences of low haemoglobin deferrals, there was heterogeneity in the optimal inter-donation interval across donors and the optimal donor assignment strategy was highly dependent on the trade-off parameter in the utility function.