title: Four-year survival of transfusion recipients identified by hepatitis C lookback.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Information on the probability of survival of transfused patients is needed for policy making, but there is a paucity of empirical research into this question. A Swedish population-based study reported that the 40-month posttransfusion probability of survival was 51 percent in all patients and 41 percent in recipients of more than 10 units of blood and blood components. These figures were 20 percent lower than the figures reported previously from Olmsted County, Minnesota.
  
  
  METHODS
  Information was collected on the 4-year survival of 695 patients transfused at the New York University Medical Center between 1988 and 1996. These patients had been identified previously by hepatitis C lookback.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventy-five percent of patients survived at 1 month after transfusion, 66 percent at 3 months, 60 percent at 6 months, 54 percent at 1 year, 50 percent at 2 years, 45 percent at 3 years, and 41 percent at 4 years. Seventy-eight percent of patients included in the study had received more than 10 units of blood and blood components. The 4-year survival of patients receiving 1 to 3, 4 to 10, or more than 10 units was 62 percent, 48 percent, and 38 percent, respectively (p < 0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  When transfusion dose is taken into account, the probability of survival of patients transfused at the New York University Medical Center in 1988 to 1996 and identified by lookback is similar to that reported for Swedish county residents transfused in 1993. Based on both the Swedish data and the information presented here and in the absence of any recent results from population-based studies, the survival of U.S. patients transfused in the 1990s appears to be 20 percent lower than that of Olmsted County residents transfused in 1981.
authors.affiliation: Bloodbank and Transfusion Service, New York University Medical Center, New York, NY 10016, USA. stephen.vamvakas@med.nyu.edu
authors.forename: Eleftherios C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Vamvakas
authors.forename: Rosalyn
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Goldstein
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016913:Blood Component Transfusion / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016063:Blood Loss, Surgical; D001804:Blood Transfusion, Autologous / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003953:Diagnosis-Related Groups; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006291:Health Policy; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D015993:Life Tables; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008910:Minnesota / Q000453:epidemiology; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy; D009519:New York City / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology