Immediate Transfusion in African Children with Uncomplicated Severe Anemia

Background: The World Health Organization recommends not performing transfusions in African children hospitalized for uncomplicated severe anemia (hemoglobin level of 4 to 6 g per deciliter and no signs of clinical severity). However, high mortality and readmission rates suggest that less restrictive transfusion strategies might improve outcomes.

Methods: In this factorial, open-label, randomized, controlled trial, we assigned Ugandan and Malawian children 2 months to 12 years of age with uncomplicated severe anemia to immediate transfusion with 20 ml or 30 ml of whole-blood equivalent per kilogram of body weight, as determined in a second simultaneous randomization, or no immediate transfusion (control group), in which transfusion with 20 ml of whole-blood equivalent per kilogram was triggered by new signs of clinical severity or a drop in hemoglobin to below 4 g per deciliter. The primary outcome was 28-day mortality. Three other randomizations investigated transfusion volume, postdischarge supplementation with micronutrients, and postdischarge prophylaxis with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole.

Results: A total of 1565 children (median age, 26 months) underwent randomization, with 778 assigned to the immediate-transfusion group and 787 to the control group; 984 children (62.9%) had malaria. The children were followed for 180 days, and 71 (4.5%) were lost to follow-up. During the primary hospitalization, transfusion was performed in all the children in the immediate-transfusion group and in 386 (49.0%) in the control group (median time to transfusion, 1.3 hours vs. 24.9 hours after randomization). The mean (±SD) total blood volume transfused per child was 314±228 ml in the immediate-transfusion group and 142±224 ml in the control group. Death had occurred by 28 days in 7 children (0.9%) in the immediate-transfusion group and in 13 (1.7%) in the control group (hazard ratio, 0.54; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.22 to 1.36; P = 0.19) and by 180 days in 35 (4.5%) and 47 (6.0%), respectively (hazard ratio, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.48 to 1.15), without evidence of interaction with other randomizations (P>0.20) or evidence of between-group differences in readmissions, serious adverse events, or hemoglobin recovery at 180 days. The mean length of hospital stay was 0.9 days longer in the control group.

Conclusions: There was no evidence of differences in clinical outcomes over 6 months between the children who received immediate transfusion and those who did not. The triggered-transfusion strategy in the control group resulted in lower blood use; however, the length of hospital stay was longer, and this strategy required clinical and hemoglobin monitoring. (Funded by the Medical Research Council and Department for International Development; TRACT Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN84086586.).