title: A study of blood utilization in a tertiary care hospital in South India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Monitoring blood utilization helps in effective management of blood stock to meet present and future demands in a hospital. Hence, we analyzed the age, gender and frequency distribution of each blood product used in different diseases conditions.
  
  
  METHODS
  We included all blood products utilized from January 2008 to December 2012 in our tertiary care hospital in South India. The primary and secondary discharge diagnoses (International Classification of Diseases [ICD-10]) were matched with clinical information provided in the request forms. The most relevant indication requiring blood transfusion was selected for each recipient and grouped into broad diagnostic categories according to the headings of ICD-10. The utilization of stored whole blood, packed red blood cells (RBCs), fresh frozen plasma (FFP) and platelets was stratified according to age, gender and diagnosis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our results indicated decline in usage of whole blood and an increase in use of FFP and platelets over the years. While packed RBCs were frequently used for treating injury and poisoning conditions, platelets and FFP were preferred for infectious and parasitic diseases. Various blood products were used less frequently in patients aged over 60 years and the overall usage of blood products was higher in males.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The patterns of blood products utilization is in contrast to the Western nations, which may be due to difference in age structure among Indian population and higher prevalence of infectious diseases such as Dengue in our region. Nevertheless, this study highlights the importance of understanding the epidemiology of blood transfusion locally to improve usage of blood and blood products.
authors: Department of Pathology, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, Puducherry, India.
authors: M Moses
authors: MM
authors: Ambroise
authors: Department of Biostatistics, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, Puducherry, India.
authors: Kandasamy
authors: K
authors: Ravichandran
authors: Department of Pathology, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, Puducherry, India.
authors: Anita
authors: A
authors: Ramdas
authors: Department of Pathology, Saveetha Medical College and Hospital, Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors: Ganthimathy
authors: G
authors: Sekhar
keywords: Blood products; plasma; platelets; red blood cells; transfusion