The INTERVAL study has been set up by the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford in collaboration with NHS Blood and Transplant.

We started recruiting blood donors to the study in June 2012 and reached our target of 50,000 study participants two years later, in June 2014. Donors who give blood across England have joined the INTERVAL study to help our researchers compare the effects of donating blood at different time intervals.

Our goal is to find the optimum interval for which it is safe for different donors to give blood. We will look at whether donation intervals should be tailored to donors by age, gender, genetic profile and other characteristics. The study’s findings should help to improve the well-being of blood donors in England and enhance the country’s blood supplies.