Blood products use in France: a nationwide cross-sectional survey.
Blood products use has increased in France between 2000 and 2011. To understand the reasons for this increase, data about transfused patients and transfusion practices needed to be updated.



A nationwide cross-sectional survey was performed with health care establishments. Diagnoses and indication for the transfusion, pretransfusion laboratory results, and blood products used were collected during a randomly selected 24-hour period in 2011. All patients who received at least one blood product delivered on the survey day were included.



A total of 10,794 blood products were requested for 4720 patients: 8688 red blood cell (RBC) units, 842 platelet (PLT) concentrates, and 1264 fresh-frozen plasma (FFP) units. Hematologic and cancer pathologies included 46% of transfused patients, 34% of the patients had transfusions in a surgical context, and 32.4% of transfused patients were receiving medication with an impact on transfusion. Nearly half of RBC transfusions were performed with hemoglobin levels of less than 8 g/dL. PLT transfusions for prophylactic indication were prescribed with PLT counts of less than 20 × 109and 50 × 109/L in 56.9 and 86.6% of patients, respectively. RBCs and PLTs transfusion practices were in agreement with national guidelines. FFP units were involved in 8.0% of all prescriptions. Among these, 57.4% were requested in the context of an acute hemorrhage and 8.4% for plasma exchange. The median of FFP use (n = 2) in a nonsurgical context, excluding plasma exchange, suggests an insufficient dosing of FFP.



Except for insufficient FFP dosing per patient and limitations on assessment of indications for prescribing, transfusion practices were in agreement with national guidelines.
Medical Department, Etablissement Français du Sang, La Plaine Saint Denis, France.
Anne-Marie
AM
Fillet
Centre d'investigation clinique Inserm CIC1431, CHRU de Besançon, Besançon, France.
Maxime
M
Desmarets
Medical Department, Etablissement Français du Sang, La Plaine Saint Denis, France.
Suzanne
S
Assari
Centre hospitalier universitaire, Nice, France.
Jean-François
JF
Quaranta
Medical Department, Etablissement Français du Sang, La Plaine Saint Denis, France.
Anne
A
François
Centre d'investigation clinique Inserm CIC1431, CHRU de Besançon, Besançon, France.
Aurore
A
Pugin
Etablissement Français du Sang, Lorraine Champagne, Nancy, France.
Anne
A
Schuhmacher
Assistance publique-hôpitaux de Marseille, Marseille, France.
Bernard
B
Lassale
Centre d'investigation clinique Inserm CIC1431, CHRU de Besançon, Besançon, France.
Elisabeth
E
Monnet
Agence régionale de santé, Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie, France.
Philippe
P
Cabre
Etablissement Français du Sang, Rhône-Alpes, France.
Dominique
D
Legrand
Centre d'investigation clinique Inserm CIC1431, CHRU de Besançon, Besançon, France.
Delphine
D
Binda
Medical Department, Etablissement Français du Sang, La Plaine Saint Denis, France.
Rachid
R
Djoudi
D001803:Blood Transfusion / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D017707:Erythrocyte Transfusion / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D010949:Plasma; D010951:Plasma Exchange / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017713:Platelet Transfusion / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires