A Survey of Acute Transfusion Reactions in Thalassemic Patients in Pakistan: A Single Centre Experience
Abstract
Background: Blood transfusion reactions are characterized as adverse reactions linked to whole blood or any of its constituent parts, encompassing a spectrum of severity levels, from minor to potentially life-threatening. The administration of blood products is a common practice to enhance the hemodynamic status and overall clinical well-being of patients. However, it's important to note that transfusing blood components comes with potential complications, both infectious and non-infectious in nature.
Objective: The current study aim to evaluate the type and frequency of transfusion reactions in thalassemic patients at Hamza Foundation Welfare Hospital and Blood Services, Peshawar.
Method: The current study was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The data was collected from 152 participants through a self-generated questionnaire during the 4 months (from April to July 2022) study period.
Results: The overall frequency of febrile non-hemolytic reactions (FNHTR), allergic transfusion reactions (ATR), and acute hemolytic transfusion reactions (AHTR) was 84%. Among the 152 participants, 91 (59.8%) were males, and 61 (40.2%) were females. Of the total males, 83 (55.6%) experienced transfusion reactions, while 46 (30%) of the females had transfusion reactions. Specifically, 56 males and 36 females experienced FNHTRs, 22 males and 4 females experienced ATRs, and 5 males and 6 females experienced AHTRs. Fever was observed predominant symptom 69.7% and 52.6% among FNHTR and AHTR, anxiety was predominantly observed in 34.8% in ATRs.
Conclusion: Among the transfusion reaction types, FNHTRs emerged as the most common, followed by ATRs and AHTRs.
Key words: Febrile Non-Hemolytic Reaction, Allergic Transfusion Reaction, Hemolytic Transfusion Reactions
Copyright (c) 2024 Journal of Islamabad Medical & Dental College
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.