Outcomes of therapeutic plasma exchange in severe autoimmune hemolytic anemia hospitalizations: An analysis of the National Inpatient Sample

Background Autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) is characterized by humoral and/or cellular immune‐mediated hemolysis of red blood cells. The role of therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) in AIHA is unclear. Study Design and Methods We queried the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) for 2002–2019 to identify hospitalizations with the primary diagnosis of AIHA. We included hospitalizations with the highest severity subclass identified by All Patient Refined Disease Related Group (APR‐DRG). We used multivariate regression analysis to compare in‐hospital mortality and other relevant in‐hospital outcomes between hospitalizations that received TPE and those that did not. Results We identified 255 weighted hospitalizations in the TPE group and 4973 in the control group. Those in the control group were older (median age 67 vs. 48 years, p