Red blood cell storage duration and long‐term mortality in patients undergoing cardiac intervention: a Danish register study

• Published in: Transfusion medicine (Oxford, England) England), 2017-08, Vol.27 (4), p.268-274
• Main Authors: Dencker, D., Pedersen, F., Engstrøm, T., Schroeder, T. V., Lönn, L., Johansson, P. I., De Backer, O.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Blood Preservation - adverse effects; cardiovascular disease; coronary angiography; Coronary Angiography - mortality; Denmark; Erythrocyte Transfusion - mortality; Erythrocytes; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; red blood cell transfusion; Registries; Retrospective Studies; storage duration; Time Factors
• ISSN: 0958-7578; 1365-3148
• DOI: 10.1111/tme.12435

ABSTRACT Objectives To study the effect of red blood cell (RBC) storage duration on long‐term mortality in patients undergoing cardiac intervention. Background RBCs undergo numerous structural and functional changes during storage. Observational studies have assessed the association between RBC storage duration and patient outcomes with conflicting results. Methods Between January 2006 and December 2014, 82 408 patients underwent coronary angiography. Of these, 1856 patients received one to four RBC units within 30 days after this procedure. Patients were allocated according to length of RBC storage duration: short‐term (≤11 days), intermediate (IM)‐term (12–23 days) and long‐term (≥24 days). The study endpoints were 30‐day and long‐term all‐cause mortality. Results A total of 4168 RBC units were given to 1856 patients. The mean RBC storage duration was 8.5 ± 2.1, 17.7 ± 3.4 and 29.9 ± 3.4 days in the short‐term, IM‐term and long‐term storage groups, respectively. There was no difference in baseline characteristics between the groups. The long‐term storage group received significantly more units (2.4 ± 1.0 units) as compared to the short‐term (2.0 ± 1.0 units; P