Blood transfusion in a random sample of hospitals in France

BACKGROUND: Representative information on blood use is scarce. A large-scal e study of blood recipients and blood use in France was conducted. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Based on a random sampling, this study was carrie d out in teaching and other hospitals between March and December 1997. In e ach hospital, a patient was included if he or she received an allogeneic or an autologous transfusion during the observation period for that hospital. For each recipient, product and patient characteristics for 24 hours after inclusion were collected. RESULTS: From the 175 hospitals that had given a transfusion to at least on e patient during the observation period, 3206 patients were included. Most transfusion recipients (57%) were over 65 years old; 42 percent were in tea ching hospitals and 53 percent in medical wards. Among the 3044 adults, 91 percent received an allogeneic transfusion. Fifty-three percent of allogene ic units were WBC reduced. The indications most frequently reported for all ogeneic transfusion were neoplasms (48%) and those for autologous transfusi on were disorders of musculoskeletal (63%) or circulatory (15%) systems. Th e patients in nonteaching hospitals were more often transfused during surge ry and were more likely to be aged and to have a musculoskeletal disorder t han were patients in teaching hospitals. CONCLUSION: General collection of such data, within a system of traceabilit y, could provide relevant denominators from which to interpret adverse-reac tion data.