Blood Transfusion Complications and Associated Factors Among Blood-Transfused Adult Patients at Debre Markos Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Ethiopia: A Cross Sectional Study

BACKGROUND: Blood transfusion is the infusion of whole blood or its components into the veins of the patient to improve tissue oxygenation and maintain hemostasis. Besides its clinical use, it can pose a risk of transfusion complications with different factors. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to assess blood transfusion complications, and associated factors among transfused adult patients at Debre Markos Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, North West Ethiopia, 2022. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An institution-based cross-sectional study design was conducted on a total of 182 patients from March 20 to June 15, 2022. Patients were enrolled in the study using consecutive sampling method. The socio-demographic and clinical data were collected using a structured questionnaire and data extraction sheet, respectively. About 3 ml of anti-coagulated blood and 30 ml of urine samples were collected to assess transfusion complications. CBC and Coombs test were performed from blood and urinalysis from urine, respectively. Chi-square, Fisher’s exact test, and binary logistic regression were done using SPSS version 25. P-values less than 0.05 are declared as statistically significant. RESULTS: An acute transfusion reaction (ATR) was encountered in 12 (6.6%) patients. It was 4.13, 7.78 and 3.96 times more likely to occur among patients with a previous history of transfusion, abortion, and transfused blood stored for more than 20 days compared to their counterparts, respectively. In addition, the odds of developing ATR increase by 2.07 as the number of transfused blood units increases by 1 unit. CONCLUSION: The incidence of acute transfusion reactions was high. During transfusion, clinicians should closely monitor patients who had history of transfusion, abortion, transfused old blood and more than 1 unit.