Long-term survival in transfusion recipients in Sweden, 1993

Survival and characteristics of transfusion recipients have not been studied enough, although they represent key measures in cost-effectiveness analyses of various donor screening procedures.

Hospital and blood bank records were collected on all patients in Orebro County, Sweden, from March through May 1993 (1111 transfusion episodes) and a random sample from Stockholm County during April 1993 (793 transfusion episodes). All patients were then matched with the national register of deaths in Sweden during a follow-up period of 40 months.

The median patient age was 71 years and the median transfusion total was 2 units. Only 35 percent of the patients were under the age of 65, 9 percent under 40, and 1.6 percent under 1 year. About half (56%) were women. Among the Orebro patients, 47 percent were surgical and 29 percent internal medicine patients. Of 1720 patients whose survival could be investigated, 66 percent were alive after 1 year and 51 percent after 40 months. The survival rates were rather similar in patients receiving RBCs and plasma but lower in those receiving platelets.

The survival of patients transfused in Sweden in 1993 differered significantly from estimations based on studies from the 1980s. This difference has major implications for the estimations of cost-effectiveness of blood donor screening for infectious agents.