An Analysis of Prehospital Blood Administration in the Indo-Pacific Command

Blood products are often a life-saving intervention for both traumatic and medical indications. The United States Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) is the largest Geographic Combat Command (GCC). Procurement of blood products that meet the US military healthcare standards throughout this region is challenging. Yet, the frequency to which this life-saving intervention is administered remains unclear. We seek to describe blood product administration throughout INDOPACOM.

This is a secondary analysis of a previously described dataset from the US Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) Regulating Command and Control and Evacuation System (TRAC2ES) from 2008 to 2018.

Between 2008 and 2018, there were 4,217 cases in TRAC2ES originating within INDOPACOM, of which 173 (4%) cases involved blood product transfusion. The largest percentage for patients receiving a blood transfusion was 19-29 years old (29%), followed by patients under a year (21%). Most (66%) of the patients classified as male. Almost half of the patients (49%) were dependents of members of service in parallel with the young patient ages. Anemia (23%) and trauma (20%) , mostly non-combat related, were the largest proportions of indications. The common blood product used was packed red cells (72%) followed by fresh frozen plasma (16%).

Blood products were administered to nearly 1 out of every 25 patients transported within INDOPACOM, which highlights the need for reliable methods for obtaining and maintaining blood products. Given INDOPACOM's vast area of responsibility and possibility for a peer-to-peer war, finding optimal methods to transport and store blood and blood products is imperative.