Home-based blood transfusion therapy: A systematic review

Area of Science:

• Healthcare delivery
• Transfusion medicine

Background:

• Home care is an emerging alternative to traditional hospitalisation for various medical procedures.
• Home blood transfusion services are not widely implemented, with limited knowledge regarding their safety, effectiveness, and patient acceptance.
• This study addresses the need to evaluate the feasibility, safety, and patient satisfaction associated with home blood transfusions.

Approach:

• A systematic literature review was conducted across major biomedical databases.
• Studies involving patients receiving home blood transfusions, irrespective of diagnosis, were included.
• Fourteen studies met the inclusion criteria from an initial search of 290 publications.

Key Points:

• The typical recipient of a home blood transfusion has anemia linked to other underlying health conditions.
• The incidence of severe adverse events during home blood transfusions was low, at 0.05%.
• Patient willingness to receive transfusions at home was reported at 51% in one study, indicating positive acceptance.

Conclusions:

• Home blood transfusion is a feasible and safe procedure with good patient acceptance.
• Effectiveness of home versus in-hospital transfusions was not evaluated in the reviewed studies.
• The low quality of existing research limits definitive conclusions on the benefit-risk profile of home blood transfusions.