What's next for the ABDS?

Where we’ve been

Last August, we wrapped up the first part of our study: recruiting donors. Now, we’ve collected 6,453 blood samples, received health and lifestyle survey responses from 7,002 donors, and received 2,396 responses for the 12-month follow-up survey. All thanks to you.

Next steps

Just keep doing what you’re doing! You’ll see newsletters from time to time, and your next survey will come through later in the year.

Every survey answer you’ve given so far is adding value. Both by helping answer important research questions which improve the health and donation experience of our donors, and by shaping how we investigate new ways of improving population health in Australia.

Did you know?

Donors who participate in research are more likely to give blood again.

One of our previous studies found that donors were more likely to book a donation within 14 days of receiving an invitation to take part in research, compared with donors who didn’t. Donors involved in research are also more likely to return to donate at one, three and six months after participation compared to donors who weren’t invited.

Care to share?

We want to know why you signed up to the ABDS. Tell us in 1-3 sentences and we might include it in the next newsletter.

To share yours, email the ABDS team: abds@redcrossblood.org.au

We've said it before, but it's always worth a reminder: only research projects that have ethical and scientific approval can use data or samples from the ABDS. Researchers can’t identify you from the data or the sample.