Red blood cell transfusion and mortality in trauma patients: risk-stratified analysis of an observational study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Haemorrhage is a common cause of death in trauma patients. Although transfusions are extensively used in the care of bleeding trauma patients, there is uncertainty about the balance of risks and benefits and how this balance depends on the baseline risk of death. Our objective was to evaluate the association of red blood cell (RBC) transfusion with mortality according to the predicted risk of death.

Methods and findings

A secondary analysis of the CRASH-2 trial (which originally evaluated the effect of tranexamic acid on mortality in trauma patients) was conducted. The trial included 20,127 trauma patients with significant bleeding from 274 hospitals in 40 countries. We evaluated the association of RBC transfusion with mortality in four strata of predicted risk of

SUBMITTER: Perel P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4060995 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature