Rate, Indications and Outcome of Blood Transfusion in Neonates at Federal Teaching Hospital, Gombe, Nigeria

Blood transfusion is a lifesaving procedure with varying indications. Neonates, especially the extremely preterm are among the most frequent recipients of blood products. The indications could be from anaemia of prematurity or pathological causes such as haemolysis from ABO or rhesus incompatibility, neonatal sepsis and acute haemorrhage, among others.

To determine the rate, indications and outcome of blood transfusion in neonates at Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe, Nigeria.

The study was retrospective and included 96 neonates who received blood transfusion at the SCBU of Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe from January, 2015 to December, 2019. Data was extracted from patients' medical records and analysed using IBM SPSS statistics version 24.

The prevalence of blood transfusion was 3.5% with top up blood transfusion being the most frequent, 63 (65.6%), form. Half of the patients, 48(50%), received fresh whole blood while 45 (46.9%) received packed red cells, other types of blood products accounted for 3.1%. The most common indication for exchange blood transfusion was severe hyperbilirubinaemia followed by severe anaemia. Similarly, severe anaemia and acute haemorrhage were the main indications for top-up transfusion. Seventy-four (77.1%) patients who received transfusion were discharged while 22 (22.9%) died. Blood transfusion was significantly related to the place of delivery and admitting unit.

The rate of blood transfusion was low, severe hyperbilirubinaemia and severe anaemia were the main indications for blood transfusion in this study. Mortality among transfused neonates was high.