Highlights
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Blood transfusion significantly impacts long-term all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in the US population.
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After propensity score-matching, the risk of all-cause mortality increased by 78 % with blood transfusion, and the risk of cardiovascular mortality increased by 102 %.
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The effective management of blood transfusion in the general population may be beneficial.
Abstract
Background and aims
The association of blood transfusion with an increase in medium- and short-term mortality in specific populations has been confirmed. However, the correlation between blood transfusion and long-term mortality in the general population remains unclear. This cohort study evaluated the correlation between blood transfusion and overall and cause-specific mortality in the general American adult population.
Methods
The authors utilized 10 sets of 2-year cycle data (1999-2018) from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey on the outcomes of adults who did and did not receive blood transfusions. Propensity score-matching (1:1) was performed based on age, sex, race, education level, marital status, poverty-income ratio, arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, cancer, anemia, hypertension, and diabetes status. After controlling for demographic characteristics and clinical risk factors, Cox regression analysis was performed to evaluate the correlation between blood transfusion and all-cause and cause-specific mortality.
Results
The study included 48,004 adult participants. The risk of all-cause mortality increased by 101 % with blood transfusion, and the risk of cardiovascular mortality increased by 165 %. After propensity score-matching, 6,116 pairs of cases were retained, and the risk of all-cause mortality increased by 84 % with blood transfusion, and the risk of cardiovascular mortality increased by 137 %. The sensitivity analysis results were robust.
Conclusions
In the general American population, blood transfusion significantly impacts long-term all-cause and cardiovascular mortality and may be an unacknowledged risk factor for death. Thus, the effective management of blood transfusion in the general population may be beneficial.
Keywords
Blood transfusion; All-cause mortality; Cardiovascular mortality; Propensity Score-Matching