6 © 2017 Asian Journal of Transfusion Science | Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow Reporting adverse transfusion reactions: A retrospective study from tertiary care hospital from New Delhi, India Sangeeta Pahuja, Vandana Puri, Gunjan Mahajan, Prajwala Gupta, Manjula Jain Abstract: CONTEXT: Blood transfusion services have achieved newer heights in the last decade, with developments in cellular techniques, component separation, and integration of molecular methods. However, the system of recording and reporting of the adverse events related to blood transfusion is developing countries like India is grossly inadequate and voluntary in nature. AIMS: This study was undertaken to analyze the retrospective data on adverse events related to blood transfusions in our hospital. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This retrospective study was done to examine all the transfusion related adverse events reported in a Regional Blood Bank Transfusion Centre of North India over a period of 9 years. Adverse transfusion events related to whole blood, red cell concentrates (RCCs), and all other components were analyzed and classified on the basis of their clinical features and laboratory tests. Average rate of transfusion reactions with the components was also assessed. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Categorical variables were analyzed using the Chi‑square test. P < 0.05 was taken to indicate a significant difference. RESULTS: During this period, a total of 1,60,973 blood/blood component units were issued by our blood bank to various departments of the hospital and 314 immediate transfusion events were reported. The rate of immediate transfusion reactions during the study was 0.19%. Average transfusion reaction rate with RCC was 0.25% with febrile nonhemolytic reactions being the most common type of adverse event (37.2%). CONCLUSIONS: Awareness should be increased among clinicians to correctly prevent, identify, and report transfusion‑related adverse events. These measures should be implemented to increase blood transfusion quality and safety. Key words: Adverse reactions, blood transfusion, leukodepletion B lood transfusion services have undergone major advancements in the last decade. With the opening of new vistas of component separation, apheresis technology and integration of molecular methods, the transfusion services are achieving newer heights. However, the system of recording and reporting of the adverse events related to blood transfusion is lagging. The concept of hemovigilance was introduced in 1990’s in France. [1] Hemovigilance is defined as a set of surveillance procedures covering whole transfusion chain from the collection of blood and its components to the follow‑up of its recipients; intended to collect and access information on unexpected or undesirable effects resulting from the therapeutic use of labile blood products, and to prevent their occurrence and recurrence. [2] A complete analysis of adverse events is the most important objective of a hemovigilance system. In the developing countries like ours (India), blood transfusion services are fragmented, nonuniform, with different levels of care depending on the institution. National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) lays down the policies for blood banks and transfusion services, and regulatory body is the Drug Controller, India. [3] Adverse event reporting in India is voluntary in nature. Although NACO Address for correspondence: Dr. Vandana Puri, Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology and Blood Bank, Lady Hardinge Medical College, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Marg, New Delhi - 110 001, India. E-mail: drvandanapuri@ gmail.com Submission: 16-05-2016 Accepted: 05-10-2016 Department of Pathology, Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi, India Original Article Access this article online Quick Response Code: Website: www.ajts.org DOI: 10.4103/0973-6247.200779 How to cite this article: Pahuja S, Puri V, Mahajan G, Gupta P, Jain M. Reporting adverse transfusion reactions: A retrospective study from tertiary care hospital from New Delhi, India. Asian J Transfus Sci 2017;11:6-12. This is an open access arcle distributed under the terms of the Creave Commons Aribuon-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non- commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creaons are licensed under the idencal terms. For reprints contact: reprints@medknow.com