Why group & save? Blood transfusion at low-risk elective caesarean section

Women undergoing elective caesarean section (CS) routinely have a group and save ordered as part of their preoperative assessment, whereas women with expected vaginal birth do not. Our aim was therefore to determine the rate of blood transfusion at elective CS compared with vaginal birth in a large Australian maternity hospital. A retrospective cohort study was performed using routinely collected de-identified data of 35477 women, over 4years, who delivered at the Mater Mothers' Hospital, Brisbane, Australia. After excluding women with established risk factors for transfusion, the likelihood of blood transfusion following elective CS was significantly lower compared to vaginal birth (aOR 0.47 (0.29, 0.77)).