Prevention of Iatrogenic Anemia in Critical and Neonatal Care

Iatrogenic anemia caused by diagnostic blood sampling is a common problem in the intensive care unit, where continuous monitoring of blood parameters is very often required. Cumulative blood loss associated with phlebotomy along with other factors render this group of patients particularly susceptible to anemia. As it has been proven that anemia in this group of patients leads to inferior outcomes, packed red blood cell transfusions are used to alleviate possible threats associated with low hemoglobin concentration. However, the use of blood components is a procedure conferring a set of risks to the patients despite improvements in safety. Iatrogenic blood loss has also gained particular attention in neonatal care, where cumulative blood loss due to samples taken during the first week of life could easily equal or exceed circulating blood volume. This review summarizes the current knowledge on the causes of iatrogenic anemia and discusses the most common preventive measures taken to reduce diagnostic blood loss and the requirement for blood component transfusions in the aforementioned clinical situations.