Pattern of blood component utilization in Arak, Iran

Abstract Background and Objectives Blood transfusion in medical care is one of the main treatments. However, blood transfusion is not without risk. Investigating the patterns of blood products utilization can help improve blood products usage and predict future blood products demand. Therefore, in this study, the pattern of blood product utilization in Arak hospitals has been investigated.   Materials and Methods In this descriptive cross-sectional study, four hospitals in Arak were selected and the desired information including type and amount of utilized blood products and thier relationship with patient characteristics such as age, gender, diagnosis of the disease were evaluated during the first 6 months of 1397 (according to Iranian Calendar). Diseases were classified based on the International Classification of Diseases, 10th. Edition (ICD-10).   Results All 7300 patients, 54.4% of whom male, received 6928 RBC units, 3829 FFP units, 8196 random platelet units and 171 apheresis platelet units in all four hospitals. In all three types of utilized products (RBC, FFP, platelet), the recipient group with the age range of 41-64 years received the highest rate of blood products and the highest utilization of RBC, FFP, platelet  pertained to patients with neoplasm. The average utilization of RBC was 1.9 ± 2.05 units, FFP was 2.7 ± 2.35 units and platelet was 3.7±4.05 units, and the most utilized product in all four hospitals was RBC.   Conclusions  The results of the current study represents the blood components utilization by age, sex and various diseases in Arak with regard to the relationship between the usage of blood components and the demographic pattern of the region. Therefore, the feasibility of using the obtained pattern in order to predict and plan for the blood components needed for this region based on the demographic pattern of Arak city will be possible.