December 18, 2005
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dl...512180409/1012
U.S. heart patients more likely to get blood
By John Fauber
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
DALLAS -- American heart patients are much more likely to get a blood transfusion than those in other developed countries, a phenomenon that may put them at higher risk for heart problems, according to a recent study.
The researchers said the finding should serve as a caution to U.S. doctors to be restrained in ordering transfusions when patients might be able to increase their blood count on their own.
The analysis, which involved records from 24,000 patients, looked at transfusion rates in 16 countries in people who went to the hospital with heart attack symptoms. It was presented at the American Heart Association's annual scientific session last month.
"We can't say the blood transfusions are inappropriate (in the United States)," said lead author Sunil Rao, a cardiologist at Duke University's Clinical Research Institute. "All we can say is, 'here are the numbers.' "
The numbers showed that Americans were 84 percent more likely to get a transfusion than Europeans; 72 percent more likely than Canadians; 70 percent more likely than New Zealanders and Australians; and 38 percent more likely than Asians. The only country with a greater transfusion rate was South Africa, which was 10 percent higher.
Earlier, Rao and other researchers found that heart patients who got transfusions were four times more likely to die within 30 days and three times more likely to die of a heart attack than heart patients who were not transfused. That study was published last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The new study is likely to cause U.S. hospitals to re-examine their use of blood, said Niloo Edwards, chairman of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison.
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