Blood components use at two private hospitals in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais between July 2017 and June 2019

A retrospective ecological longitudinal study was carried out with data on blood components use from two private hospital units that belong to the same organization located in Belo Horizonte between July 2017 and June 2019.

To describe the monthly series of red blood cells, platelets and plasma use and the rate of blood components use for general hospitalizations in the health network, from the perspective of time series.

A total of 15 time series were created with monthly data related to the use of blood components. The stationarity of the series was verified by the unit root test, the trend, by the Cox-Stuart test and seasonality, by the Fisher test (significance levels of 10% for the first test and 5% for the last two).

All series tested positive for the trend component and showed an increasing trend for the use of blood components. Ten series showed statistically significant seasonality and eight series were identified as non-stationary. The percentage of transfusions of blood components due to hospitalization at hospitals 1 and 2 was 29% (22% at hospital 1 and 38.9% at hospital 2).

This study was able to describe the components of blood components use dynamics, from the perspective of time series at hospitals. Due to the growing trend in demand for blood components and their high cost, we propose the reduction of blood components use and the expanded use of alternative blood transfusion strategies.