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Background Patients blood management (PBM) is a comprehensive approach to optimizing the care of patients who might need transfusion. It involves the use of evidence-based strategies to reduce or avoid the need for allogeneic blood transfusions, while ensuring that patients receive safe and appropriate care. PBM includes strategies such as preoperative autologous donation, intraoperative cell salvage, and minimally invasive techniques to reduce bleeding. The purpose of this study is to assess medical staff awareness of preoperative patient blood management in Saudi Arabia Methods Between April 2022 and July 2022, data was collected using a 10-minute online (Google Forms) self-administered, anonymous, researcher-structured questionnaire adapted from previous studies and translated into both English and Arabic. The questionnaire was divided into three sections. The first section contained sociodemographic data, while the second section was used to estimate physicians' and nurses' knowledge of preoperative PBM. Two questions in Part 3 of the questionnaire were used to assess doctors' and nurses' preoperative PBM attitudes and practices. Results The average relationship between patients' blood management attitudes and levels of awareness. It was revealed that there was a positive attitude (p ≤ 0.005) as well as a high level of awareness (p ≤ 0.002). The effect of job, gender, or geographical distribution on PBM awareness, attitude, and practice was not significant. Conclusion Despite the fact that the majority of participants have a positive attitude and good awareness of PBM, more efforts should be implemented to improve PBM awareness, which was linked to increased transfusion practices and lower product costs.

BackgroundThe relationship between HIV infection and COVID-19 clinical outcome is uncertain, with conflicting data and hypotheses. We aimed to assess the prevalence and risk of severe COVID-19 and death in people living with HIV (PLWH) on the global and continental level.MethodsElectronic databases were systematically searched in July 2021. Studies were screened and then extracted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Narratives were synthesised and data pooled for global and continental prevalence and relative risk of severity and mortality in HIV-infected COVID-19 patients using random-effect model. Risk of bias was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa score, Egger’s test and presented as funnel plots.ResultsA total of 46 studies were included involving 18,034,947 COVID-19 cases of which 31,269 were PLWH. The global prevalence of PLWH with SARS-CoV-2 infection was 1% (95% CI = 0.9% -1.1%) with the highest prevalence observed in sub-Saharan Africa. The relative risk (RR) of COVID-19 severity was significant only in Africa (RR, 95% CI = 1.14, 1.08 – 1.24) while risk of COVID-19 mortality was 1.53% (95% CI = 1.45 – 2.03) globally. The prevalence of PLWH in COVID-19 cases was significantly low, and the calculated global risk ratio show that HIV infection may be linked with increased COVID-19 death. The between-studies heterogeneity was significantly high while risk of publication bias was not significant.ConclusionThere is low prevalence of HIV-SARS-CoV-2 co-infection. HIV infection was linked with severe COVID-19 in Africa and increased risk of death globally.

Background: The relationship between HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and COVID-19 clinical outcome is uncertain, with conflicting data and hypotheses. We aimed to assess the prevalence of people living with HIV (PLWH) among COVID-19 cases and whether HIV infection affects the risk of severe COVID-19 or related death at the global and continental level. Methods: Electronic databases were systematically searched in July 2021. In total, 966 studies were screened following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Narratives were synthesised and data pooled for the global and continental prevalence of HIV–SARS-CoV-2 coinfection. The relative risks of severity and mortality in HIV-infected COVID-19 patients were computed using a random-effect model. Risk of bias was assessed using the Newcastle–Ottawa score and Egger’s test, and presented as funnel plots. Results: In total, 43 studies were included involving 692,032 COVID-19 cases, of whom 9097 (1.3%) were PLWH. The global prevalence of PLWH among COVID-19 cases was 2% (95% CI = 1.7–2.3%), with the highest prevalence observed in sub-Saharan Africa. The relative risk (RR) of severe COVID-19 in PLWH was significant only in Africa (RR = 1.14, 95% CI = 1.05–1.24), while the relative risk of mortality was 1.5 (95% CI = 1.45–2.03) globally. The calculated global risk showed that HIV infection may be linked with increased COVID-19 death. The between-study heterogeneity was significantly high, while the risk of publication bias was not significant. Conclusions: Although there is a low prevalence of PLWH among COVID-19 cases, HIV infection may increase the severity of COVID-19 in Africa and increase the risk of death globally.