Geographic location of commercial plasma donation clinics in the United States, 1980-1995.

OBJECTIVE We examined the location of commercial plasma donation centers in the United States over the period 1980 to 1995 relative to the geographic distribution of risk behaviors associated with transfusion-transmissible infections. METHODS The census tract locations of commercial source plasma clinics were described by measures of neighborhood social disadvantage and the prevalence of illicit drug use and active local drug economies. RESULTS Depending on the measure of social environment used, commercial plasma clinics were 5 to 8 times more likely to be located in census tracts designated high-risk than would be expected by chance. CONCLUSIONS Commercial source plasma clinics were overrepresented in neighborhoods with very active local drug economies. These patterns persisted after the links between human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis C virus infections and plasma products had been established and may present risks to blood system safety.