ABSTRACT
Background: The first wave of COVID-19 outbreak in Malaysia started with the first case in January 2020 followed by the second wave in February 2020 and the third wave in October 2020. In the early phase, COVID-19 patients were treated in designated Ministry of Health (MOH) hospitals only. However towards the end of 2020, as the crises set in, COVID-19 patients were also being treated in private centres and university hospitals including our centre, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Medical Specialist Centre. Aims: To evaluate the utilization of blood components among hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Methods: Retrospective study of blood component transfusions among hospitalized COVID-19 patients from January 2021 to December 2021 was conducted in Transfusion Medicine Unit, UiTM Medical Specialist Centre. The data was retrieved from Blood Bank Information System (BBIS) and transfusion request forms. The type of blood products and the number of blood components transfused to the patients were analysed. Results: Overall, 256 COVID-19 patients were admitted to our centre in 2021. Twenty-eight of the patients received blood product transfusions for an overall transfusion rate of 10.9%. Out of a total of 2438 blood components used by all patients admitted to our centre in 2021, 4.3% of blood components were transfused to COVID-19 patients in which the majority were red blood cells, 56 units (4.2%) followed by platelets 40 units (9.5%) and fresh frozen plasma 9 units (1.8%). Summary/Conclusions: The transfusion rate of blood components among hospitalized COVID-19 patients is lower than other hospitalized non-COVID-19 patients.