Prevalence of pre-operative anemia in elective surgical patients: A retrospective, observational study at a university hospital

Background

Anemia is the most hematological condition found in surgical patients. Pieces of empirical evidence shows that pre-operative anemia accounts for one- third of surgical patients. Yet, pre-operative anemia & blood transfusion for surgical patients has been associated with many complications such as lengthy hospital stay, post operation surgical wound infections, mortality and morbidity.

Purpose

This Pilot preliminary study sought to determine the prevalence of pre-operative anemia in elective surgical patients and to assess health workers’ awareness and knowledge regarding patient blood management in Saudi Arabia.

Material and methods

A questionnaire was used to collect data from the 129 healthcare workers in a selected hospital in Saudi Arabia. Additional data was obtained from the hospital electronic data records regarding the incidences of pre-operative anemia. Therefore, the study applied both retrospective and cross-sectional designs. The collected data was then analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Services [SPSS].

Results

This study established the prevalence of pre-operative anemia in elective surgical patients to be 30 % (291 out of 970). In addition, 129 participants completed the questionnaires, from different hospital departments. From the questionnaire, it was noted that 74.2 % of the of physicians had the knowledge about patient blood management while 65 % (n = 50) were aware of the written protocol for the management of pre-operative anemia. This study also found out that 48.1 % of physicians rarely get to meet their patients assessed for possible anemia 4–8 weeks prior surgical operation. In addition, a relatively high number of physicians (42.6, n = 55 rarely investigate the cause of anemia after it has been established while 45.7 % confirm to rarely transfer their patient to pre-operative clinic for anemia management. Low intervention in correction of anemia of low iron origin by the physicians was established to be 44.2 %, and the most preferred hematology analyzer for point of care management was CBC Analyzer Sysmex (79.8 %).

Conclusion

This study finds a significant lack of knowledge about pre-operative anemia management in line with the patient blood management protocol. Also, majority of physicians fail to follow the guidelines for anemia management despite the high incidence.