Determinants of blood transfusion for elective surgical procedures at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2017.

Background: Till date 80% of the world's population has access to only 20% of the world's safe blood that is properly collected and tested. Paradoxically, despite a severely inadequate supply, blood is often transfused unnecessarily and it will expose patients to complications. Despite lots of publication and investigation on the efficiency of blood usage, there is no clear demarcation which patients really need blood transfusion.

Objectives: To determine factors associated with blood transfusion in elective surgical procedures in Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2017 G.C.

Methods: Hospital based cross sectional study was conducted from February 1, 2017 to September 30, 2017 G.C at Tikur Anbessa specialized Hospital. Data was collected by using convenient sampling technique and structured checklist. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify significant predictors of transfusion based on p-value less than 0.05 with 95% confidence level.

Results: Among all 387 elective surgical patients 88 (22.7%) of patients were transfused with prepared blood. The independent predictors of perioperative blood transfusion were neurosurgery (craniotomy) (p = 0.017), hemoglobin level < 11.0 g/dl (p < 0.001) and intraoperative blood loss ≥ 15% (P < 0 0.001).

Conclusion: neurosurgery, hemoglobin <11.0 g/dl and intraoperative blood loss ≥15% were the major determinants of blood transfusion.