ArticleInjury2021
Assessing the appropriateness of blood transfusion among injured patients at a Ghanaian tertiary hospital: Time for clarity on the use of a scarce resource.
Article in Injury, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Facilitators and barriers to blood and blood product accessibility and use in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review.Frontiers in health services · 2026Pooled it
- Restrictive vs. liberal blood transfusion strategies in Africa: clinical outcomes, resource stewardship, and future directions.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Review
- Criteria used to define appropriate red blood cell transfusion in the perioperative setting: a scoping review.BMC surgery · 2025Article
- Magnitude of mortality and associated factors among road traffic accident victim children admitted in East and West Gojjam Zone specialized public hospitals Northwest, Ethiopia.BMC pediatrics · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
introductionHemorrhage is an important cause of preventable injury-related death. Many low- and middle-income country (LMIC) patients do not have timely access to safe blood. We sought to determine the degree of appropriateness of blood transfusion among patients with injuries requiring surgical intervention at presentation to a tertiary hospital in Ghana.
methodsWe performed a retrospective review of such patients presenting to Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), from January 2015 to December 2016. Patients' hemoglobin levels at presentation were determined as the first record of hemoglobin after presentation and their receipt of blood transfusion was determined by explicit documentation in the chart. We defined appropriate blood transfusion practice as patients receiving transfusion when hemoglobin was equal or below a threshold, or patients not being transfused when hemoglobin was above the threshold. We considered both restrictive (hemoglobin ≤7 g/dL) and liberal (hemoglobin ≤10 g/dL) transfusion thresholds.
resultsThere were 1,408 patients who presented to KATH with injuries that met inclusion criteria. Two hundred and ninety two (292) patients were excluded because of missing hemoglobin information. Four hundred and fifty eight (458;41%) patients received blood transfusion. Transfused patients had a higher mean age (38 vs 35 years) and were less likely to be male (62% vs 71%). Transfused patients underwent more external fixation procedures (28% vs 19%), trauma amputations (5% vs 1%) and trauma laparotomies (3% vs 1%). At a restrictive transfusion threshold (hemoglobin ≤7 g/dL), 20% of patients who needed a transfusion did not receive one and 39% of patients who did not need a transfusion received one. At a liberal threshold (hemoglobin ≤10 g/dL), 33% of patients who needed a transfusion did not receive one and 30% of patients who did not need a transfusion received one. Blood transfusion practice was inappropriate in 31%-39% of all patients.
conclusionOur data suggest that clearer guidelines for blood transfusion among emergency surgery patients are needed in Ghana and similar LMICs to avoid inappropriate use of blood as a scarce resource.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.