A review of blood transfusion reaction cases at Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital, Alor Setar / Muhammad Zulfikri Zainon

The aim of the present study was to ascertain the blood transfusion reaction cases at Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital, Alor Setar. A total of 263 transfusion reaction cases, occurred in the period of January 2014 to August 2015, from Transfusion Medicine laboratory were collected and analysed. From the 263 transfusion reaction cases, the month of March 2014 recorded the highest number of cases, while the month of August 2014 recorded the lowest number of cases. Symptom of mild allergic reactions, itchiness, was found to be the commonest transfusion reaction. Patients of age group 40 to 75 constituted the largest group having transfusion reactions. Packed red cells was the most implicated component causing transfusion reactions. Since this study intends to provide the statistic of transfusion reaction cases at Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital from January 2014 to August 2015, the findings can be a very useful “alert” to raise awareness among personnel who are involved throughout the blood transfusion process.