Blood transfusions and adverse acute events: a retrospective study from 214 transfusion-dependent pediatric patients comparing transfused blood components by apheresis or by whole blood

Blood transfusion is a lifesaving procedure for patients affected by hematological diseases or hemorrhage risk. This retrospective study was aimed to evaluate clinical safety of pediatric transfusions by comparing the frequency of adverse events caused by apheretic blood components vs whole blood. From 2011 to 2015, 214 patients (blood malignancy patients, n = 144 and thalassemic patients, n = 70) received 12 531 units of blood components. The adverse acute reactions occurred during patient hospitalization were reported to the Hemovigilance system and assessed by fitting a logistic mixed-effect model. A total of 33 (0.3%) adverse acute events occurred. Odds ratio (OR) of adverse events from apheresis vs whole blood transfusion adjusted by patient classification was not statistically significant (OR [95% CI], 0.75 [0.23-2.47]). Our findings showed no significant differences in the prevalence of adverse acute events between blood component collected by apheresis vs whole blood in our study center.