There have been several notable revisions to the Donor History Questionnaire as of 2023, including revisions to deferral periods and the removal of several long-standing questions. Many of these recommendations were made to initially address the blood supply shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic and were then kept in place based on available international and domestic data. The DHQ was also revised to ask gender-neutral questions in support of inclusivity and questions were reordered to support donor recall of activities.
Some of the major changes to deferral periods and questions are below:
- Removal of question: "Male donors: In the past 3 months, have you had sexual contact with another male?"
- Removal of question: "Female donors: In the past 3 months, have you had sexual contact with a male who had sexual contact with another male in the past 3 months?"
- Above questions were replaced with questions asking about new and/or multiple partners within the past 3 months.
- Revision of question: "In the past 3 months, have you had sexual contact with a prostitute or anyone else who has ever taken money or drugs or other payment for sex?" to ask instead if a donor has, in the past 3 months, had sexual contact with someone else who has in the past 3 months received money, drugs, or other payment for sex.
- Deferral period was lowered from 12 months to 3 months for the following donors:
- someone who had sexual contact with a person who has hepatitis or lived with a person who has hepatitis
- injected non-prescription drugs or had sexual contact with someone who injected non-prescription drugs
- received a blood transfusion
- had contact with someone else's blood
- received a tattoo or piercing from a non-regulated establishment
- has a history of syphilis or gonorrhea
- traveled to a malaria-endemic area having never resided in a malaria-endemic area
- Questions regarding oral and injectable PrEP or PEP medication taken for the prevention of HIV and medication taken for the treatment of HIV were added.
- Removal of most questions related to vCJD risk such as travel, residency, military service, or receipt of blood transfusion in several European countries between 1980 and the 1990s.
For additional information on why some of these changes were made, or to see the full list of revisions made to the DHQ, visit the
DHQ Crosswalk.
