Twelve blood center members of the Biomedical Excellence for Safer Transfusion (BEST) Collaborative from four countries with no upper age limit for whole blood and double RBC donation (Canada, New Zealand, England, and the United States) or an upper age limit of 80 (Australia) provided 2016 data on donors and donations, deferral rates, and vasovagal reactions by donor age and sex.
We evaluated the safety of blood donation in older individuals (≥71 years), and their contribution to the blood supply of five countries. Some countries impose an upper age limit on whole blood and double RBC donation while others do not.