Among high schoolers, blood donation is associated with organ donor registration

High school students who have donated blood are more likely to also be signed up as organ donors. One of the bottlenecks for organ transplantation remains a lack of donors, and scientists aimed to understand if asking blood donors — especially from minority backgrounds — could be an avenue for more organ donors. In a survey of nearly 1,800 high school students in California, a third of those who had donated blood were also signed up as organ donors. In contrast, 1 in 4 of those who hadn't donated blood said they were registered organ donors. Among those who hadn't yet registered, a higher proportion of blood donors said they'd be willing to sign up for organ donation than non-blood donors. White blood donors were more likely to express interest and be registered as organ donors than those of other races.