Survival analysis of blood transfusion recipients

Background: Mortality rates of blood transfusion recipients is critical to investigations assessing the health of the recipients. This study analyzes the survival of blood transfusion recipients identified by a look back investigation on Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) which is not expected to have an effect on the survival of recipients. Study Design and Methods: Recipients were identified through the CJD look back study. Survival and demographic data were obtained from hospital records or from the National Death Index. Descriptive analysis and survival analysis including the Cox proportional hazard model were performed. Results: As of 2006, 395 recipients were identified by the lookback investigation; of these 379 with adequate information were included in the analysis. Fifty-four percent of the population was male and median age at transfusion was 67 years (range, 6 months-99 years). At one year post-transfusion 49% of the population had died. At 5-, 10- and 15-years post-transfusion, 65%, 74% and 80% were deceased. Individuals transfused after 1993 had approximately a 10% decrease in survival at the 1-, 5-, and 10-year points than those transfused in previous years. Men had a poorer outcome than women. Recipients age 35-50 who received transfusion after 1993, had a mortality rate over 3 times higher than that for recipients of the same age who received transfusion before 1988. Conclusion: Approximately half of the recipients die within the first year following transfusion. Researchers should account for the percentage of deceased recipients when evaluating recipient populations. Decreased survival of recipients transfused after 1993 warrants further study.