Abstract
Purpose: The association between neurodegenerative diseases and transfusion remains to be investigated. Methods: The study population comprised 63,813 patients who underwent a blood transfusion and 63,813 propensity score-matched controls between 2000 and 2010. Data were obtained from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, which is maintained by the National Health Research Institutes. A Cox regression analysis was conducted to elucidate the relationship between blood transfusions and the risk of dementia. Results: A multivariate Cox regression analysis of factors, such as age, sex, cardiovascular ischemia disease, and depression, revealed that patients who underwent a blood transfusion showed a 1.73-fold higher risk of dementia [95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.62-1.84] and a 1.37-fold higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) [95% CI = 1.13-1.66] than those who did not. Patients who received a transfusion of washed red blood cells showed a 2.37-fold higher risk of dementia (95% CI = 1.63-3.44) than those who did not. Conclusion: Blood transfusion, especially transfusion of any type of red blood cells is associated with an increased risk of dementia.
Highlights
Anemia, defined as hemoglobin concentration
Given the evidence that peripheral inoculation of the misfolded proteins can induce the aggregation of aberrant proteins in mice models and vascular inflammation is associated with dementia [27,28,29,30], the horizontal transmissibility of neurodegenerative diseases might be possible [31, 32]
A blood transfusion was defined as a transfusion of packed red blood cells (RBCs), washed RBCs, frozen deglycerolized RBCs, leukocyte-poor RBCs, platelet concentrate, white blood cells (WBC) concentrate, plateletpheresis, WBCphresis, fresh frozen plasma, frozen plasma, cryoprecipitate, whole blood, and reduced leukocytesplatelets
Summary
The study population comprised 63,813 patients who underwent a blood transfusion and 63,813 propensity score-matched controls between 2000 and 2010. A Cox regression analysis was conducted to elucidate the relationship between blood transfusions and the risk of dementia
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
