Blood Transfusion and Risk of Infection: New Convincing Evidence

Carson talks about the study by Rohde et al that reports results of a meta-analysis evaluating the association between a liberal transfusion strategy versus a restrictive strategy and risk of hospital-acquired infections. In the meta-analysis, which included 18 randomized trials that compared these strategies among 7,593 patients, the absolute rates of hospital-associated infection were 16.9% in the liberal transfusion group and 11.8% in the restrictive transfusion group. The number needed to treat with a restrictive transfusion strategy to prevent serious infection was about 38 patients. Results were consistent when analyses were repeated in trials with concealed randomization and infrequent protocol violations.