Blood Transfusion Requirements from Hospitalized Confirmed COVID-19 Patients in a Large New York Hospital System

Background/Case Studies: The COVID-19 (C-19) pandemic has altered almost everything The first case of C- 19 was confirmed in New York (NY) on 3/1/20 As of 6/30, there were >212,000 confirmed cases, >50,000 patients hospitalized, and >18000 confirmed and >4600 probable deaths in NYC Quarantines diminished the blood supply, and all elective surgery was canceled effective 3/16 We sought to assess the transfusion needs of hospitalized C-19 patients in our system Study Design/Methods: After obtaining IRB approval, an EMR report to identify all patients, who had a positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR test result and were transfused between 3/1/20 and 6/30/20, was created to identify howmany C-19 patients had been transfused and the number and type of blood products they received Results/Findings: From 3/1-6/30, 12973 confirmed patients had been admitted to the hospital and transfused a total of 4297 blood products Of the admitted confirmed patients, 1024 patients were transfused at least one blood product A MTP was activated on 12 patients, and 9 were placed on ECMO 3644 RBCs, 267 SDPs, 339 plasmas, and 47 pooled CRYO were transfused to C-19 patients Table 1 depicts the mean number, range, and percent of transfusions by product type administered Table 2 shows the data for patients who required intubation Patients who died in the hospital were more likely to be transfused than those who had a routine discharge (13 1% vs 9 2%) 39 patients who required intubation and died in the hospital received a RBC transfusion Conclusions: 1024 COVID-19 patients were transfused a total of 4297 blood products 22 7% of all blood products during the period were transfused to C-19 patients C-19 patients received 26 9% of RBCs, 9 1% of plasmas, 20 8% of SDPs, and 15 4% of pooled CRYO transfused in the hospital An ample blood inventory is required to support the care of C-19 patients especially those requiring ECMO and intubation