CLINICAL NEWS
The Fresher the Better? Sharing is Caring
Results from an international, multicenter, randomized, double-blind trial showed that, when it comes
to RBC transfusions, age doesn’t matter. Ideally, electronic medical records make it easier for hospitals
to share patient information and reduce waste and inefficiency.
A report published in Health Affairs, however, found that U.S.
hospitals have a long way to go to achieving “interoperability.”
Researchers assigned 4,919 critically ill patients in need of RBC transfusion to receive either the fresh-
est available RBCs (short-term storage group; n=2,457) or standard-issue, oldest-available RBCs (long-
term storage group; n=2,462) to determine whether storage time had any effect on rates of 90-day
mortality.
RBCs were stored for an average of 11.8 days in the short-term group and 22.4 days in the long-term
group.
At 90 days post-transfusion, mortality rates were comparable between both groups:
29.7 %
of U.S. hospitals are fully
interoperable, meaning they
can find, send, receive, and
integrate patient information
from outside providers.
100%
80%
60%
40%
610 deaths
(24.8%) in
the short-term
storage group
594 deaths
(24.1%) in
the long-term
storage group
20%
43
%
19
%
of hospitals can
send and receive
information but,
of hospitals said that they often
integrate these data in treatment
decisions.
0%
At 180 days post-transfusion, the absolute risk difference remained low, at 0.4 percentage points
(95% CI −2.1 to 3.0; p=0.75).
Source: Cooper DJ, McQuilten ZK, Nichol A, et al. Age of red cells for transfusion and outcomes in critically ill adults. N Engl J Med.
2017 September 27. [Epub ahead of print]
The report reveals several areas of inefficiency,
and highlights the burden this places on patients.
“Without a system for getting electronic patient data
to clinicians, the responsibility falls on patients and their
families, who often resort to bringing printouts of records
from one hospital to another,” lead author Jay Holmgren,
PhD candidate, told Reuters. “It just adds to the burden of
being sick.”
Source: Holmgren AJ, Patel V, Adler-Milstein J. Progress in interoperability:
measuring US hospitals’ engagement in sharing patient data. Health Aff.
2017;36:1820-7; Reuters, October 2, 2017.
A Heavy Burden
40
%
In an analysis of U.S. Cancer Statistics reports from 2005 to 2014, researchers found that
overweight and obesity are linked to an
increased risk of 13 types of cancer, or
approximately 40% of all cancers diagnosed.
Cancers linked to obesity increased 7% from 2005 to 2014, while cancers not linked to obesity dropped by 13%.
The 13 cancer types associated with obesity included: brain cancer, myeloma, esophageal cancer, post-
menopausal breast cancer, and cancers of the thyroid, gallbladder, stomach, liver, pancreas, kidney, ovaries,
uterus, and colon.
Source: Steele CB, Thomas CC, Henley SJ, et al. Vital signs: trends in incidence of cancers associated with overweight and obesity — United
States, 2005–2014. MMWR. 2017;66:1052-8.
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