Anemia, transfusion, and phlebotomy practices in critically ill patients with prolonged ICU length of stay: a cohort study

Table 1 Baseline demographic information

Parameter	All patients (n = 155)	Never transfused (n = 59)	Ever transfused^a (n = 71)	P value
Age (years)	62.3 ± 16.3	61.2 ± 18.0	62.9 ± 15.8	0.56
Male (n [%])	98 (63%)	35 (59%)	50 (70%)	0.19
BMI^b (kg/m²)	26.6 ± 7.3	26.6 ± 7.1	26.5 ± 7.8	0.95
Surgical (%)	64 (41%)	19 (32%)	33 (46%)	0.10
APACHE II score	23.4 ± 8.0	20.5 ± 8.9	24.4 ± 6.9	0.007
Admission diagnosis (n [%])				0.24^c
Respiratory	58 (37%)	26 (44%)	25 (35%)
Cardiovascular	41 (26%)	14 (24%)	20 (28%)
Gastrointestinal	32 (21%)	8 (13%)	19 (27%)
Neurologic	12 (8%)	7 (12%)	4 (6%)
Other	12 (8%)	4 (7%)	3 (4%)
Comorbidities (n [%])
CAD	37 (24%)	10 (17%)	19 (27%)	0.18
CHF	18 (12%)	5 (8%)	9 (13%)	0.44
CVA	15 (10%)	7 (12%)	6 (8%)	0.52
DM	31 (20%)	10 (17%)	16 (23%)	0.43
COPD	38 (25%)	15 (25%)	18 (25%)	0.99
HTN	41 (26%)	13 (22%)	20 (28%)	0.42
Cancer	19 (12%)	6 (10%)	11 (15%)	0.37
ESRD	7 (5%)	1 (2%)	5 (7%)	0.22^c
Medications (n [%])
Erythropoietin	24 (15%)	2 (3%)	16 (23%)	0.002
Iron	39 (25%)	9 (15%)	24 (34%)	0.016
Hemoglobin (g/dl)
Day 0	11.1 ± 2.5	11.8 ± 2.5	10.8 ± 2.5	0.04
Day 7	9.4 ± 1.4	9.8 ± 1.5	9.2 ± 1.2	0.003
Day 14	9.0 ± 1.2	9.4 ± 1.3	8.8 ± 1.0	0.002
Day 21	9.0 ± 1.1	9.4 ± 1.2	8.8 ± 0.9	0.001

^aExcludes 25 patients with active bleeding. ^bBMI unavailable for three bleeding patients and 12 nonbleeding patients (five nontransfused patients and seven transfused patients). ^cFisher's exact test for small samples of categorical variables. APACHE, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation; BMI, body mass index; CAD, coronary artery disease; CHF, coronary heart failure; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; CVA, cerebrovascular accident; DM, diabetes mellitus; ESRD, end-stage renal disease; HTN, hypertension.

ISSN: 1364-8535