Survey of blood transfusion practice for palliative care patients in Yorkshire: implications for clinical care.
Blood transfusions can be used to palliate the symptoms of fatigue or dyspnea in the presence of anemia. We studied the transfusion practices of 8 hospices in our cancer network over a 1-year period. We identified 164 patients who received 650 units of blood in 230 transfusions. The majority of patients received a single transfusion (71%), of 2 or 3 units of blood (76%), as an inpatient (83%). Blood transfusions occurred in 140 (5.7%) of 2460 hospice admissions. Median survival following first transfusion was 42 days and significantly longer for outpatients compared to inpatients (median of 104 days and 36 days, respectively, p = 0.006).
Brown
Elizabeth
E
Specialist Registrar in Palliative Medicine, St. Gemma's Hospice, Leeds, West Yorks, United Kingdom. loobybrown03@yahoo.co.uk
Bennett
Mike
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000740:Anemia / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D001803:Blood Transfusion / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004417:Dyspnea / Q000097:blood / Q000628:therapy; D004739:England; D005221:Fatigue / Q000097:blood / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010166:Palliative Care; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D016019:Survival Analysis