Duration of red blood cell storage and survival of transfused patients (CME)

TY - JOUR

T1 - Duration of red blood cell storage and survival of transfused patients (CME)

AU - Edgren, Gustaf

AU - Kamper-Jørgensen, Mads

AU - Eloranta, Sandra

AU - Rostgaard, Klaus

AU - Custer, Brian

AU - Ullum, Henrik

AU - Murphy, Edward L

AU - Busch, Michael P

AU - Reilly, Marie

AU - Melbye, Mads

AU - Hjalgrim, Henrik

AU - Nyrén, Olof

PY - 2010/6

Y1 - 2010/6

N2 - BACKGROUND: Disquieting reports of increased complication and death rates after transfusions of red blood cells (RBCs) stored for more than 14 days prompted us to perform an observational retrospective cohort study of mortality in relation to storage time. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: We conducted a cohort study utilizing data on all recipients of at least one RBC transfusion in Sweden and Denmark between 1995 and 2002, as recorded in the Scandinavian Donations and Transfusions (SCANDAT) database. Relative risks of death in relation to storage time were estimated using Cox regression, adjusted for several possible confounding factors. RESULTS: After various exclusions, 404,959 transfusion episodes remained for analysis. The 7-day risk of death was similar in all exposure groups, but a tendency for a higher risk emerged among recipients of blood stored for 30 to 42 days (hazard ratio, 1.05; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.97-1.12), compared to recipients of blood stored for 10 to 19 days. With 2-year follow-up, this excess remained at the same level (hazard ratio, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.02-1.08). No dose-response pattern was revealed and no differential effect was seen when the analyses were restricted to recipients of leukoreduced units only. CONCLUSION: Although a small excess mortality was noted in recipients of the oldest RBCs, the risk pattern was more consistent with weak confounding than with an effect of the momentary exposure to stored RBCs. It seems, thus, that any excess mortality conferred by older RBCs in the combined Swedish and Danish transfusion recipient population is likely less than 5%, which is considerably smaller than in the hitherto largest investigation.

AB - BACKGROUND: Disquieting reports of increased complication and death rates after transfusions of red blood cells (RBCs) stored for more than 14 days prompted us to perform an observational retrospective cohort study of mortality in relation to storage time. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: We conducted a cohort study utilizing data on all recipients of at least one RBC transfusion in Sweden and Denmark between 1995 and 2002, as recorded in the Scandinavian Donations and Transfusions (SCANDAT) database. Relative risks of death in relation to storage time were estimated using Cox regression, adjusted for several possible confounding factors. RESULTS: After various exclusions, 404,959 transfusion episodes remained for analysis. The 7-day risk of death was similar in all exposure groups, but a tendency for a higher risk emerged among recipients of blood stored for 30 to 42 days (hazard ratio, 1.05; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.97-1.12), compared to recipients of blood stored for 10 to 19 days. With 2-year follow-up, this excess remained at the same level (hazard ratio, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.02-1.08). No dose-response pattern was revealed and no differential effect was seen when the analyses were restricted to recipients of leukoreduced units only. CONCLUSION: Although a small excess mortality was noted in recipients of the oldest RBCs, the risk pattern was more consistent with weak confounding than with an effect of the momentary exposure to stored RBCs. It seems, thus, that any excess mortality conferred by older RBCs in the combined Swedish and Danish transfusion recipient population is likely less than 5%, which is considerably smaller than in the hitherto largest investigation.

KW - Blood Preservation

KW - Databases, Factual

KW - Denmark

KW - Erythrocyte Transfusion

KW - Female

KW - Humans

KW - Male

KW - Retrospective Studies

KW - Risk Factors

KW - Sweden

KW - Time Factors

U2 - 10.1111/j.1537-2995.2010.02583.x

DO - 10.1111/j.1537-2995.2010.02583.x

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 20158690

SN - 0041-1132

VL - 50

SP - 1185

EP - 1195

JO - Transfusion

JF - Transfusion

IS - 6

ER -