RBC transfusion during hospitalization does not cause thrombosis: Study

Written By : Medha Baranwal |Medically Reviewed By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli Published On 2020-11-13T15:30:16+05:30 | Updated On 13 Nov 2020 3:30 PM IST

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.

Also Read: Preoperative blood transfusions to critically ill infants tied to poorer outcomes

Key findings of the study include:

Of 657,412 inpatient admissions, 10.2% patients received at least one RBC transfusion.
Two percent (12,927) of patients experienced a thrombosis. Of these, 2,587 developed thrombosis after RBC transfusion.
In unadjusted analyses, RBC transfusion was associated with an increased thrombosis risk [HR=1.3].
After adjustment for surgical procedures, age, sex, hospital, and comorbidities, no association between RBC transfusion on risk of venous and arterial thrombosis was found [HR 1.0].

"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.

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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

American Journal of HematologyThrombosisRBC transfusionhospitalization

Source : American Journal of Hematology

Medha Baranwal

MSc. Biotechnology

Medha Baranwal joined Medical Dialogues as an Editor in 2018 for Speciality Medical Dialogues. She covers several medical specialties including Cardiac Sciences, Dentistry, Diabetes and Endo, Diagnostics, ENT, Gastroenterology, Neurosciences, and Radiology. She has completed her Bachelors in Biomedical Sciences from DU and then pursued Masters in Biotechnology from Amity University. She has a working experience of 5 years in the field of medical research writing, scientific writing, content writing, and content management. She can be contacted at editorial@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751

Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli

Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: drkohli@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751