Blood transfusions and adverse acute events: a retrospective study from 214 transfusion-dependent pediatric patients comparing transfused blood components by apheresis or by whole blood

INTRODUCTION: Blood transfusion is a lifesaving procedure for patients affected by hematological diseases or hemorrhage risk. AIM: This retrospective study was aimed to evaluate clinical safety of pediatric transfusions by comparing the frequency of adverse events caused by apheretic blood components vs whole blood. METHODS: From 2011 to 2015, 214 patients (blood malignancy patients, n = 144 and thalassemic patients, n = 70) received 12 531 units of blood components. The adverse acute reactions occurred during patient hospitalization were reported to the Hemovigilance system and assessed by fitting a logistic mixed-effect model. RESULTS: A total of 33 (0.3%) adverse acute events occurred. Odds ratio (OR) of adverse events from apheresis vs whole blood transfusion adjusted by patient classification was not statistically significant (OR [95% CI], 0.75 [0.23-2.47]). CONCLUSION: Our findings showed no significant differences in the prevalence of adverse acute events between blood component collected by apheresis vs whole blood in our study center.