Outcome of Emergency Blood Transfusion in Children Seen at a Tertiary Children's Hospital in Freetown

Abstract

Objective This study sought to describe the prevalence and clinical outcome after emergency blood transfusion among children presenting with severe anemia in a tertiary children's hospital in Sierra Leone. Method This was a retrospective study of 395 children who received emergency blood transfusion at the Ola During Children's Hospital in Freetown. Association between mortality and sociodemographic and clinical factors was assessed using χ2 test. Statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. Results Three hundred ninety-five of 4719 children (8.4%) admitted to the emergency room of the Ola During Children's Hospital received emergency blood transfusion within 24 hours of presentation. Twenty-five (6.3%) were excluded because of incomplete data. The median age of the subjects was 24 months (interquartile range, 14–48). There were 191 boys (51.6%) and 179 girls (48.4%), giving a male/female ratio of 1.06:1. The most common indication for emergency transfusion was severe malaria anemia (67.8%). The mean hemoglobin concentration before transfusion was 4.8 g/dL (±1.4 g/dL). A total of 339 children (91.6%) were discharged home, 8 (2.2%) were discharged against medical advice, and 23 children (6.2%) died. The median length of stay on admission was 3 days (interquartile range, 2–5). Children with severe sepsis (P < 0.001) and those with pretransfusion hemoglobin concentration less than 5% (P = 0.047) were significantly more likely to die after transfusion compared with the other categories of patients. In a multivariate regression analysis, none of the factors were independently associated with clinical outcome after blood transfusion in children who received emergency blood transfusion. Conclusion The study suggests that emergency blood transfusion in children with severe anemia may improve in-hospital survival.