Liberal Blood Transfusions May Reduce Six-Month Mortality in Heart Attack Patients with Anemia: Research Finds - Video

Giving more blood to anemic patients after a heart attack may save lives, according to a Rutgers Health-led study. The study, published in NEJM Evidence, affirms research conducted in 2023 that suggested mortality rate or recurrent heart attacks were more frequent in anemic patients who received less blood.

Researchers acquired data from the four clinical trials evaluating blood transfusion in 4,311 patients with heart attacks. These trials included patients who had a heart attack and low blood count. Half the patients received less blood transfusions and the other half received more blood transfusions. The trials compared the frequency of death at 30 days or recurrent heart attacks and death at six months.

The results of this analysis, didn’t definitively establish that giving less blood transfusions increased a patients’ risk of death or heart attack at 30 days, but did suggest that using less transfusions was associated with an increased risk of death at six months.

In the original clinical trial, a large percentage of patients had suffered a previous heart attack, heart failure, diabetes or kidney disease. The average age of participants was 72, with 45% women.

The researchers compared the frequency of the main outcome of death or recurrent heart attack at 30 days after enrollment into the trial. Although not statistically significant, the study found the frequency of mortality or recurrent heart attack was 2.4% lower when a liberal approach was used.

“The results of this analysis show that giving more blood to anemic patients with heart attacks can save lives at six months,” Jeffrey L. Carson, provost and Distinguished Professor of medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, said.