What rules you out — and what doesn't
What disqualifies you from donating bone marrow?
Current NMDP guidance does not permit donation with HIV/AIDS, says most heart disease prevents donation, and excludes severe systemic autoimmune disease that affects the whole body. Cancer eligibility depends on the exact diagnosis, treatment, and timing. The official registry serving your country applies its own current guidance to your health history.
The registry runs the eligibility check; rules and enrollment processes vary by country.
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The honest answer in 30 seconds
Current NMDP guidance does not permit donation with HIV/AIDS, says most heart disease prevents donation, and excludes severe systemic autoimmune disease that affects the whole body. Cancer eligibility depends on the exact diagnosis, treatment, and timing. NMDP temporarily defers donation during pregnancy until you have fully recovered after delivery. If you are breastfeeding and called as a match, NMDP directs you to contact your donor representative to discuss your options.
Eligibility rules vary by registry and country. The official registry serving your country must decide how tattoo or piercing history, diabetes, blood pressure, medication, BMI, smoking, past illness, and age apply under its current guidance.
NMDP currently evaluates tattoos from the past year for signs or symptoms of infection and reviews recent piercings based on whether shared or nonsterile instruments were used. That is a temporary safety review, not a universal tattoo waiting period or a permanent exclusion. The official registry serving your country makes the final decision from its current medical guidance and your health history.
You can likely donate if
The official registry serving your country decides how a tattoo, diabetes, high blood pressure, medication, BMI, age, and your full health history apply under its current guidance.
Needs a closer look if
Current NMDP guidance does not permit donation with HIV/AIDS, says most heart disease prevents donation, and excludes severe systemic autoimmune disease that affects the whole body. Cancer eligibility depends on the exact diagnosis, treatment, and timing.
The registry runs the eligibility check; rules and enrollment processes vary by country.
In detail
Conditions that can prevent donation, and concerns that need closer review
Current registry guidance separates conditions that can prevent donation from concerns that require individual review. The official registry serving your country applies that guidance to your actual health history.
The first bucket exists to protect two people at once — the patient receiving the transplant and you, the donor. The American Cancer Society describes how donor and recipient health are both reviewed before any stem cell transplant proceeds, while the official registry decides whether a particular condition makes donation unsafe.
The second bucket contains concerns that require condition-specific review. The official registry serving your country decides how a tattoo, blood-pressure treatment, antidepressant, or BMI applies under its current guidance; this page cannot clear or exclude you.
Bucket A — conditions that often prevent donation
The Jada Bascom Foundation's companion page on who can donate explains current NMDP guidance and directs readers outside the United States to the official registry serving their country.
Under current NMDP guidance, carcinoma in situ of the cervix can be acceptable. Current NMDP guidance says other cancers may prevent donation permanently or for a defined period depending on the exact diagnosis, treatment, and timing. Current chemotherapy must therefore be reviewed under the cancer-specific rule rather than a blanket claim on this page.
Current NMDP guidance does not permit donation with HIV/AIDS and excludes severe systemic autoimmune disease that affects the whole body. For hepatitis history and bleeding disorders, the official registry serving your country must decide from its current medical guidance and your individual history.
Current NMDP guidance says most heart disease prevents donation. It temporarily defers donation during pregnancy until you have fully recovered after delivery. If you are breastfeeding and called as a match, NMDP directs you to contact your donor representative to discuss your options. The National Cancer Institute describes donor selection as a clinical process that considers the full medical picture.
Bucket B — concerns that need registry review
These concerns require an official registry decision; none carries a universal answer. Each one below has its own detailed page if you want the specifics.
NMDP currently evaluates tattoos from the past year for signs or symptoms of infection and reviews recent piercings based on whether shared or nonsterile instruments were used. NMDP may allow well-controlled diabetes after careful evaluation and may allow controlled high blood pressure when there is no associated heart disease. It says medication and the underlying condition may affect donation or the collection procedure. Other registries apply their own current medical guidance.
NMDP assesses BMI for donor safety. For smoking, past illness, and routine surgery, the official registry serving your country must decide from its current health-history rules. Age cutoffs also vary: NMDP currently recruits eligible U.S. residents ages 18-35, while other registries set their own ranges. The Cleveland Clinic describes donor screening as a health-history review designed to confirm donation is safe.
If your concern lives in this bucket, the honest answer is that the official registry serving your country needs to review it.
Why the registry decides — not you, and not this page
No web page can disqualify you, and neither can a friend, a forum, or your own best guess. Eligibility is a determination the registry makes from your actual health history, against its own current medical guidelines. Those guidelines differ from registry to registry and country to country, which is exactly why hard universal numbers are misleading.
The HRSA C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program oversees the US donor system, and the registries that operate under it apply detailed, regularly updated criteria. A condition that defers you at one registry may be acceptable at another, and guidance shifts over time as the evidence does. That is a feature, not a loophole — it means the people with the full medical picture are the ones making the call.
This is also why 'joining is not donating' matters here. Your official registry explains its enrollment and health-history process. You are only contacted if you turn out to be a possible match for a specific patient — at which point there is a second, more detailed health screening, and you can still ask questions or decline before anything happens. Nothing is locked in by signing up.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What disqualifies you from donating bone marrow?
Current NMDP guidance does not permit donation with HIV/AIDS, says most heart disease prevents donation, and excludes severe systemic autoimmune disease that affects the whole body. Cancer eligibility depends on the exact diagnosis, treatment, and timing. NMDP temporarily defers donation during pregnancy until you have fully recovered after delivery. If you are breastfeeding and called as a match, NMDP directs you to contact your donor representative to discuss your options. Other registries set their own current rules.
What medical conditions prevent you from donating bone marrow?
Current NMDP guidance does not permit donation with HIV/AIDS, says most heart disease prevents donation, and excludes severe systemic autoimmune disease that affects the whole body. Cancer eligibility depends on the exact diagnosis, treatment, and timing. NMDP separately reviews diabetes control, blood pressure and associated heart disease, medications, BMI, and other health-history details. Other registries set their own current rules.
Can I donate bone marrow with a tattoo?
NMDP currently evaluates tattoos from the past year for signs or symptoms of infection rather than applying a universal tattoo waiting period. Other registries set their own current rules, so the official registry serving your country confirms how its guidance applies to you.
Does high blood pressure or diabetes disqualify you from donating bone marrow?
NMDP may allow well-controlled diabetes after careful evaluation and may allow high blood pressure controlled by medication or diet when there is no associated heart disease. NMDP does not permit donation when diabetes requires insulin or has caused serious complications. Other registries set their own current rules.
Can you donate bone marrow if you've had cancer?
Current NMDP guidance treats carcinoma in situ of the cervix as acceptable. Current NMDP guidance says other cancers may prevent donation permanently or for a defined period depending on the exact diagnosis, treatment, and timing. Other registries apply their own current cancer rules.
Does being overweight disqualify you from donating bone marrow?
NMDP assesses BMI and says weight can prevent donation when it creates a safety risk. Other registries set their own current thresholds and review rules, so the official registry serving your country confirms what applies to you.
Is there an age that disqualifies you from donating bone marrow?
Age rules vary by registry. NMDP currently recruits eligible U.S. residents ages 18-35; other registries set different ranges. Check the official registry serving your country rather than treating one age band as a worldwide rule.
Do medications disqualify you from donating bone marrow?
NMDP says a medication or its underlying condition may affect donation or the collection procedure and directs potential donors to contact their donor representative. Other registries set their own current rules, so the official registry serving your country must assess your full medication list and health history.
If I think I'm disqualified, should I just not register?
No. Guessing can keep a potentially eligible person from being reviewed, and you cannot determine eligibility from a worry alone. The official registry explains its enrollment process and makes the determination. Let the registry decide rather than ruling yourself out.
Does smoking disqualify you from donating bone marrow?
The official registry serving your country must decide how smoking and your overall health apply under its current medical guidance. This page cannot give a blanket clearance or exclusion.
What to do next
- Want the full picture? Can I donate bone marrow? Full eligibility explained
- Have a condition in mind? Can I donate with a specific condition? (hub)
- Worried about your ink? Can I donate with tattoos?
- Managing diabetes? Can I donate with diabetes?
- On blood pressure medication? Can I donate with high blood pressure?
- Taking a daily prescription? Can I donate while taking medications?
- Wondering about BMI? Can I donate at my weight?
- Worried you're too old? Is there a bone marrow donor age limit?
Let the registry decide, not your worst-case guess
The official registry makes the eligibility decision from your real health history and its current rules; this page cannot clear or exclude a condition. Enrollment varies by country. You are only contacted if you are a possible match, and you can still ask questions or decline before any donation. Be someone's Torsten: let the registry decide.
The registry runs the eligibility check; rules and enrollment processes vary by country.
Sources reviewed
The claims on this page are drawn from the following donor-facing and medical sources.
