Post-operative Anaemia and Prevalence of Blood Transfusion In Surgical Patients at The Rivers State University Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Blood transfusion following surgical procedures may be a life saving venture especially in anaemic patients. Even though there is no universal accepted consensus on blood transfusion in surgical patients there should be clear cut indications prior to blood transfusion. The prevalence varies from centers and regions in the world. To determine post-operative anaemia and prevalence of blood transfusion in surgical patients at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital (RSUTH). This was a six-month retrospective study of post-operative patients at the Surgery and Obstetrics/Gynaecology department of the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital. Ethical clearance was obtained from ethical committee of the Rivers State Hospital Management Board. The cut- off for anaemia was 33% in line with the World Health Organisation (WHO). Structured profoma was used to extract information from patients case notes and analysed using SPSS version 25. The subjects for the study were 370, comprising of 146 (39.5%) males and 224 (60.5%) females. The mean age was 31 years of which 194 (52%) were obstetrics and gynaecological surgeries while 176 (47.6%) were non-gynaecological surgeries. The commonest indication for surgery was ceasaren section representing 126 (34.1%) of the subjects; 259 (70%) had anaemia, of which 168 (64.8%) were females while 91 (35.2%) were males. Eighty-four (22.7%) of the subjects had blood transfusion. The prevalence of post-operative anaemia and blood transfusion in surgical patients at the RSUTH were 70% and 22.7% respectively. Optimizing surgical patients prior to operative procedures as well as taking measures to reduce blood loss intra-operatively cannot be overemphasized.