News: Anemia acuity has no effect on RBC strategies for MI, study shows

A new study published in JAMA Open Network suggests that the type of red blood cell (RBC) transfusion strategy applied to patients suffering from a myocardial infarction (MI) and anemia should not be based on anemia acuity.

The study was conducted between April 2017 and April 2023 and set out to compare acute anemia with chronic anemia patients within the context of post-MI RBC transfusion strategies. The participants in the clinical trial were culled from 126 hospitals in six countries and included 3,144 myocardial ischemia and transfusion (MINT) patients.

“In this secondary analysis of the MINT trial,” the authors concluded, “acute anemia was associated with less favorable post-MI outcomes than chronic anemia but did not modify the effects of the randomized transfusion strategy. In patients with anemia and MI, the acuity of anemia should not influence the choice of transfusion trigger.”

According to the authors of the study, the mean participant age was 72.3 years, approximately 54.5% of participants were male, 1,307 patients were admitted with a type 1 MI, and 1,078 had acute anemia. The authors cited inaccurate and/or partial hemoglobin measurements as a potential limitation to their study.

Editor’s note: To read the JAMA Open Network article, click here.