Social and behavioral characteristics of male blood donors and their sexual partners: an analysis to define risk subsets (original) (raw)

Background-Men who have sex with men (MSM) in Brazil are deferred from donation for 1year since last sexual contact. Legal proceedings in front of the Brazilian Supreme Court could compel blood collection agencies to discontinue use of sexual orientation questions. Methods-Data from male participants in a completed HIV risk factor case-control study were used to evaluate whether it is possible to differentiate donors at lower and higher risk for HIV using two analytical approaches latent class and random forest analyses. Results-Male blood donors were divided into three distinct risk profile classes: Class-1 with donors who are heterosexual (96.4%), HIV− (88.7%), have a main partner (99.4%), and practice unprotected sex (77.8%). Class-2 with donors who are MSM/bisexuals' donors (100.0%), HIV