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Red Blood Cell Transfusion in the Elderly

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Transfusion in the Intensive Care Unit

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Abstract

The elderly population is growing rapidly, and the prevalence of anemia is approximately 11 % in the elderly. Observational data demonstrates poor outcome in patients with even mild anemia, but this may reflect the patients’ underlying disease rather than the anemia itself. Clinical trials evaluating transfusion thresholds in the elderly suggest that a restrictive transfusion approach is safe in most clinical settings. Transfusion guidelines do not recommend specific transfusion thresholds in the elderly but rather focus on the hemoglobin level in relation to patients’ comorbidities; thus, transfusion decisions may be affected by the higher prevalence of underlying medical problems in the elderly but not by age itself.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of General Internal Medicine, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Matthew T. Czaja MD & Jeffrey L. Carson MD

Authors
  1. Matthew T. Czaja MD
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  2. Jeffrey L. Carson MD
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Intensive Care L.E.I.C.A., Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Nicole P. Juffermans

  2. MRC Centre for Inflammation Research, University of Edinburgh The Queens Medical Research Institute, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

    Timothy S. Walsh

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© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Czaja, M.T., Carson, J.L. (2015). Red Blood Cell Transfusion in the Elderly. In: Juffermans, N., Walsh, T. (eds) Transfusion in the Intensive Care Unit. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08735-1_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08735-1_7

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-08734-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-08735-1

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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