Red Blood Cell Transfusion Characteristics and Morbidity or Mortality in Very-Low-Birth-Weight Infants

Are potentially modifiable variables of red blood cell (RBC) donor, collection, storage, or transfusion characteristics and practices associated with adverse outcomes in very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) infants?In this multicenter birth cohort study of 2605 VLBW infants (1283 of whom received RBC transfusion) at 8 US hospitals, illness severity, median pretransfusion hemoglobin level, and anticoagulant preservative solution were associated with serious morbidity or mortality.These findings suggest that although there was no association between most donor characteristics and blood banking practices and serious morbidity or mortality in VLBW infants receiving RBC transfusion, anticoagulant preservative solution may be a potentially modifiable variable.

Corresponding Author: Jeanne E. Hendrickson, MD, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Center for Transfusion and Cellular Therapies, Emory University Hospital, 1364 Clifton Rd NE, D643, Atlanta, GA 30322 (jeanne.hendrickson@emory.edu).

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