AABB’s Monthly Platelet and Group O Supply Report Updated With January Data

AABB is pleased to announce that the Monthly Platelet and Group O Survey report now includes January 2022 data. AABB developed the report to help evaluate the state of the blood supply, with particular regard to platelets and Group O red blood cell components. This report includes a new field (year) to filter 2021 and 2022 data.

The current report is based on data from the June 2021-January 2022 surveys of AABB institutional member blood centers and hospitals. The PDF of the current survey report, instructions to navigate the report and the data use request form are available on the report web page. The survey questionnaire also includes inquiries regarding inventory issues.

The overall blood collection data represent approximately 75% of the blood collected in the United States. Aggregate data from 14 blood centers that consistently reported data showed comparable platelet and Group O red blood cell collections in January 2022 and December 2021.

The platelet wastage rates for blood centers decreased in January (4.3%), while the average hospital platelet wastage rate increased (12%). The average platelet transfusion volume decreased slightly, continuing a declining platelet utilization trend observed since October 2021. The average Group O-positive and O-negative RBC transfusion volumes at participating hospitals increased slightly in January compared with December.

The proportion of hospitals using a secondary supplier for their blood was comparable to December. Only a small fraction of hospitals split platelet units to extend their inventory. Approximately 50.46% of the participating hospitals reported not being able to split platelet units in December.

The proportion of hospitals in which an incomplete RBC order led to either a delay in patient care or a need to split RBC units to fill transfusion orders remained relatively stable in January. Approximately 20-38% of respondents do not track this information. These findings are also true for platelet orders.

AABB intends to update the data at regular intervals and hopes that, over time, the survey results will evolve and be an important source of data for AABB members and the larger transfusion medicine community. Currently, AABB is collecting February 2022 data for the monthly survey. AABB also publishes Group O Blood Supply Report every week to provide estimates of nationwide average Group O supply. For questions regarding the monthly survey and participation, please contact Srijana Rajbhandary, AABB’s Director of Research, at srajbhandary@aabb.org.