RBC transfusion during hospitalization does not cause thrombosis: Study

USA: Red blood cell (RBC) transfusion does not increase the risk of thrombosis in most hospitalized patients, finds a recent study in the American Journal of Hematology.

RBC transfusion is one of the common procedure that hospitalized patients undergo. Blood exposure from another human is associated with multiple risks, including alloimmunization, infectious disease transmission, and transfusion reactions. Previous studies have also suggested an association between transfusion and risk for arterial or venous thrombosis. 

Lisa Baumann Kreuziger, MS Blood Research Institute, Milwaukee, WI, and colleagues therefore determined the association between RBC transfusion and thrombosis in hospitalized patients using the Recipient Database from the NHLBI Recipient Epidemiology and Donor Evaluation Study‐III.

Thrombotic event was defined as a hospitalization with an arterial or venous thrombosis ICD‐9 code and administration of a therapeutic anticoagulant or antiplatelet agent. The study excluded patients patients with a history of thrombosis or a thrombosis within 24 hours of admission. 

Key findings of the study include:

"In this patient cohort, after adjustment for age, sex, medical comorbidities, and surgical procedures, RBC transfusion was not associated with a risk for inpatient arterial and venous thrombosis. Thrombosis risk may be therefore driven by underlying comorbidities and surgical procedures and not RBC transfusion," concluded the authors. 

The study, "Red Blood Cell Transfusion Does Not Increase Risk of Venous or Arterial Thrombosis During Hospitalization," is published in the American Journal of Hematology.

DOI: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajh.26038