Economic Analysis of the Reduction of Blood Transfusions during Surgical Procedures While Continuous Hemoglobin Monitoring Is Used.

Background: Two million transfusions are performed in Spain every year. These come at a high economic price for the health system, increasing the morbidity and mortality rates. The way of obtaining the hemoglobin concentration value is via invasive and intermittent methods, the results of which take time to obtain.

Analysis of economic and social costs of adverse events associated with blood transfusions in Spain.

Objective: To calculate, for the first time, the direct and social costs of transfusion-related adverse events in order to include them in the National Healthcare System's budget, calculation and studies. In Spain more than 1,500 patients yearly are diagnosed with such adverse events.

Method: Blood transfusion-related adverse events recorded yearly in Spanish haemovigilance reports were studied retrospectively (2010-2015).