Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

Diversity, equity, and inclusion in transfusion medicine, blood donation, and blood and bone marrow transplantation: language matters

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 57, pages 1595–1596 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

Initiatives to advocate for increased diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in medicine and biomedical research are being implemented by numerous entities, including the American Medical Association (AMA) [1], Canadian Institutes of Health Research [2], National Institutes of Health [3], and World Health Organization [4]. While the importance of DEI in medicine has become profoundly evident, certain medical specialties and their associated professional organizations have undertaken more direct steps than others to ensure contemporary societal expectations are upheld. The fields of transfusion medicine, blood donation, and blood and bone marrow transplantation are no stranger to the contentious history of DEI [5], with admitted evidence of discrimination of individuals based on demographic variables including, but not limited to, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity [6]. While many issues in these fields remain controversial, such as the US Food and Drug Administration’s blood donation deferral policy for men who have sex with men (MSM) [7], organizations such as the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) are proactively engaging in and advancing the discussion regarding the importance of DEI both in the context of research and patient care [8], as well as in their own organizational leadership [9].

We commend the EBMT’s executive leadership for their recent position paper calling to attention the importance of DEI among society leadership, as they astutely note “…diversity amongst a society membership does not necessarily mean such an organization is diverse and inclusive. Questions are reasonably asked if, for example, the leadership of an organization at various levels does not reflect the diversity of its membership, or if invited speakers at educational meetings do not reflect the diversity of the attendees” [9]. Furthermore, the authors also discuss the importance of DEI in the context of intersectionality – the concept that discrimination is compounded for individuals identifying as a member of more than one historically marginalized group, such as Black women [10]. Similarly, as sex and gender represent distinct demographic identities, both must be considered in an inter-categorical approach to intersectionality [10]. Given this important concept, and the significance of this manuscript to DEI in the blood and marrow transplantation, we were disheartened to discover that while presumably unintentional, the authors used the terms sex and gender incorrectly and interchangeably. While this unwitting misuse of terminology was likely inadvertent, it underscores the importance of understanding and adhering to the use of proper demographic variables, for which guidelines have been implemented to assist healthcare providers, researchers, and the general public [11].

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. American Medical Association and Association of American Medical Colleges. Advancing Health Equity: A Guide to Language, Narrative and Concepts. 2021. https://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/ama-aamc-equity-guide.pdf. Accessed 9 May 2022.

  2. Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Sex and Gender in Health Research. 2021. https://cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/50833.html. Accessed 9 May 2022.

  3. National Institutes of Health. Sex & Gender. https://orwh.od.nih.gov/sex-gender. Accessed 9 May 2022.

  4. World Health Organization. Gender and health. 2022. https://www.who.int/health-topics/gender#tab=tab_1. Accessed 9 May 2022.

  5. Jacobs JW, Adkins BD, Stephens LD, Woo JS, Booth GS. Gender inequities in transfusion medicine society recognition awards. Transfus Med Rev. 2022;36:82–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmrv.2022.04.001. S0887-7963(22)00011-6

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Jacobs JW, Bibb LA, Savani BN, Booth GS. Refusing blood transfusions from COVID-19-vaccinated donors: are we repeating history? Br J Haematol. 2022;196:585–8. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjh.17842

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Harmon GE The FDA must lift its discriminatory blood-donor policy. American Medical Association. 2022. https://www.ama-assn.org/about/leadership/fda-must-lift-its-discriminatory-blood-donor-policy. Accessed 9 May 2022.

  8. Fingrut WB, DeGurse N, Hrycyshyn A, Lam B, Farrokhi K, Hatkar R, et al. Towards a more inclusive unrelated donor registry. Bone Marrow Transpl. 2022;57:688–90. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-022-01597-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Montoto S, Snowden JA, Chabannon C, Corbacioglu S, de la Camara R, Dolstra H, et al. The first steps towards a diverse and inclusive EBMT: a position paper. Bone Marrow Transpl. 2022;57:343–6. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-022-01586-w

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Bauer GR. Incorporating intersectionality theory into population health research methodology: challenges and the potential to advance health equity. Soc Sci Med. 2014;110:10–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.03.022.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Heidari S, Babor TF, De Castro P, Tort S, Curno M. Sex and gender equity in research: rationale for the SAGER guidelines and recommended use. Res Integr Peer Rev. 2016;1:2 https://doi.org/10.1186/s41073-016-0007-6

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Jacobs JW, Gisriel SD, Bouza SJ, Adkins BD. Sex and gender reporting in high impact haematology journals. Lancet Haematol. 2022;9:e392–e394. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-3026(22)00114-4. S2352-3026(22) 00114-4

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Laboratory Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Jeremy W. Jacobs

  2. Department of Pathology, Division of Transfusion Medicine and Hemostasis, University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, TX, USA

    Brian D. Adkins

  3. Department of Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA

    Allison P. Wheeler & Garrett S. Booth

  4. Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA

    Allison P. Wheeler

Authors
  1. Jeremy W. Jacobs
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Brian D. Adkins
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Allison P. Wheeler
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Garrett S. Booth
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

JWJ performed the research and wrote the first draft of the manuscript; BDA, APW, and GSB revised the manuscript; GSB provided supervision; all authors approved the final version and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeremy W. Jacobs.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Jacobs, J.W., Adkins, B.D., Wheeler, A.P. et al. Diversity, equity, and inclusion in transfusion medicine, blood donation, and blood and bone marrow transplantation: language matters. Bone Marrow Transplant 57, 1595–1596 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-022-01758-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-022-01758-8

Search

Advanced search

Quick links