This retrospective cohort included 958 adult cardiac arrest patients at three academic hospitals who survived initial resuscitation and had hemoglobin measured. Mean initial hemoglobin was 9.75 g/dL (SD 2.60), declining progressively over the first 20 days. Within 30 days, 369 patients (38.5%) received red cell transfusions; mean pre-transfusion hemoglobin was 6.96 g/dL (SD 1.06). In exploratory analysis, initial hemoglobin ≥9 g/dL was associated with lower in-hospital mortality (adjusted OR 0.62, 95% CI 0.46–0.84), but the study did not establish whether anemia caused worse outcomes.
Anemia and transfusion were common after cardiac arrest. The mortality association is hypothesis-generating and does not establish that a higher transfusion target improves outcomes.
Study limitation: Retrospective observational data cannot disentangle anemia as a marker versus a driver of mortality or establish transfusion benefit.
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