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Study links age of blood in transfusions to infection risk

Infection Control Weekly Monitor, November 5, 2008

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Patients receiving transfusions of blood stored for 29 days or longer are twice as likely to contract an infection as those receiving newer blood, Reuters news service reported.

These infections were not caused by blood that was tainted at the time it was donated, but because the blood degraded over time, increasing a patient’s susceptibility to infection, researchers said.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations allow blood to be stored up to 42 days before it must be discarded, Reuters said. Researchers at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, NJ, found that even blood stored nearly two weeks less than what is allowed by FDA standards might be problematic.

Researchers tracked 422 patients in an ICU from July 2003 to September 2006. Patients who received blood stored 29 days or more, developed blood stream infections, pneumonia, urinary tract infections, heart valve infections, sepsis, and other infections at twice the rate of patients receiving blood stored for up to 28 days, Reuters said.

Stored red blood cells experience changes that promote the release of biochemical substances called cytokines that can lower a patient’s immune function and make them more vulnerable to infections, researchers said. The findings were presented to the American College of Chest Physicians at a conference in Philadelphia. To read a press release about the study, click here.

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