In a
finding that runs counter to commonly held beliefs about fresh being better, a
clinical trial published today by the Journal of the American Medical
Association shows that acutely ill premature babies who received fresher blood
did not fare better than those who received the current standard of care. There
was no difference between the two approaches with respect to major organ
injury, mortality and infection.
"Before
now, most of the literature on the subject suggested that fresh red blood cells
are better," says lead author Dr. Dean Fergusson, who heads up the
Clinical Epidemiology Program at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and is
an associate professor at the University of Ottawa.
"However,
the effect of fresher blood on clinical outcomes had never been examined using
a randomized clinical trial in human patients, which is considered the gold
standard in medical science. Now it has, and we found the standards currently
in place are no different for this highly vulnerable population of pre-term
infants than a policy and system that would favour fresh blood."