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. 2022 Apr;117(4):535-544.
doi: 10.1111/vox.13222. Epub 2021 Dec 14.

The continued decline of plasma transfusions in Taiwan: An 11-year population-based study

Ling-I Hsu  1 , Jen-Wen Chen  1 , Dong-Tsamn Lin  1 , Sheng-Tang Wei  1 , Sheng-Mou Hou  1   2
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The continued decline of plasma transfusions in Taiwan: An 11-year population-based study

Ling-I Hsu et al. Vox Sang. 2022 Apr.

Abstract

Background and objectives: In Taiwan, plasma use per capita ranks among the highest in the world. We aimed to describe the trends in usage after the introduction of new hospital accreditation standards that evaluate compliance with institutional plasma transfusion guidelines.

Materials and methods: We identified hospitalizations receiving plasma between 2007 and 2017 from the national health insurance database. We estimated plasma transfusions per thousand capita. The risk ratio of transfusion rates among hospitalizations in 2017 compared to 2007 was estimated using logistic regression.

Results: The total number of plasma transfusions declined from 964,408 in 2007 to 659,828 in 2017, yielding a rate of 28.00 per thousand capita. The proportion of hospitalizations receiving plasma declined by 38%, from 3.89% (95% confidence interval: 3.86%-3.91%) to 2.62% (2.61%-2.64%). Gastroenterology (16.4%) and general surgery (15.3%) accounted for the largest proportions of plasma usage. Within these two services, liver diseases were the top diagnoses needing plasma use. For hospitalized patients with liver diseases, approximately 40% of plasma units were administered to patients with neither noticeable bleeding nor red blood cells transfusions. Among these patients, almost 50% received plasma with an international normalized ratio trigger of less than 1.50. The use of potential alternative therapies or anticoagulants remained quite low during this period.

Conclusion: Plasma utilization rates during hospitalizations continuously declined over 11 years. However, inappropriate plasma use remained high, while the use of alternative therapies remained low in services such as gastroenterology. To improve the appropriateness of plasma transfusions, patient blood management should be implemented in the near future.

Keywords: hospital accreditation standards; international normalized ratio; liver diseases; national health insurance; plasma.

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