IBlood transfusion plays a significant role as a life-saving practice in emergency obstetrics and it is one of the essential components of comprehensive emergency obstetric care yielding a reduction in maternal mortality. While transfusion is commonly used to combat anaemia in obstetric practice, the majority of patients receiving transfusion are given to otherwise healthy women in response to undiagnosed obstetric hemorrhage. This study explores the need and blood transfusion rate among obstetrics patients at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan to provide insight into the rationale behind such practices. This is a retrospective study of transfused obstetrics patients at UCH between the year 2009 and 2014. Information was extracted from their medical records using a pro-forma. Data were entered and analysed using SPSS version 20.Of the 21,208 births and 27,019 antenatal admissions during the study period, 597 patients were transfused and 565 medical records were analysed. Among these 565 patients, about two-thirds 412 (72.9%) were un-booked patients. The transfusion rate was 2.2% and the commonest associated obstetrics complication requiring transfusion was anaemia (65.5%) while 184 (32.6%) were transfused because of postpartum hemorrhage. Other indications for transfusion were abruptio placentae, malaria and placenta previa. Patients who delivered via Caesarean Section (CS) had the highest transfusion rate of 62.4% and the estimated blood loss during delivery was significantly higher among the unbooked patients (P<0.01). More than two-thirds, 466 (82.5%) received whole blood while only 2 (0.4%) received cryoprecipitate. About one-third of patients received single unit-transfusions.Though the overall obstetric transfusion rate was lower than that of comparable facilities, the transfusion rate among patients receiving CS was markedly high. Additionally, the majority of transfused obstetric patients had complications resulting in anaemia, while hemorrhage propagated the second highest number of cases requiring transfusion.

No abstract