Table 1.
Comparison of patient characteristics
| Pre-intervention (n = 1013) |
Post-intervention (n = 1175) |
p-value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age in years- mean (SD) | 59.9 (SD 21.7) | 62.8 (SD 21.2) | 0.017 |
| Age in years; categories | 0.005 | ||
|
- 18–30 - 31–50 - 51–65 - > 65 |
139 (13.7%) 201 (19.8%) 214 (21.1%) 459 (45.3%) |
117 (10.0%) 213 (18.1%) 234 (19.9%) 611 (52.0%) |
|
| Sex* | 0.11 | ||
|
- Female - Male |
348 (34.3%) 665 (56.7%) |
442 (37.6%) 732 (62.3%) |
|
| Indication for transfusion† | 0.08 | ||
|
- Anaemia - Trauma - Gastrointestinal bleed - Other |
73 (10.4%) 275 (39.1%) 63 (9.0%) 292 (41.5%) |
90 (7.9%) 449 (39.5%) 136 (12.0%) 461 (40.6%) |
|
| Initial Glasgow Coma Scale | 0.12 | ||
|
- 3–8 - 9–12 - 13–15 |
146 (14.4%) 29 (2.9%) 838 (82.7%) |
135 (11.5%) 33 (2.8%) 1007 (85.7%) |
|
| Initial systolic blood pressure in mmHg; mean (SD) | 122.7 (SD 28.6) | 123.9 (SD 58.5) | 0.80 |
| Initial heart rate in beats/min; mean (SD) | 92.0 (SD 21.6) | 91.9 (SD 22.8) | 0.92 |
| Initial respiratory rate in breaths/min; mean (SD) | 19.1 (SD 5.3) | 19.0 (SD 4.9) | 0.72 |
| Transfusion of > 4 units of red cells | 197 (19.5%) | 208 (17.7%) | 0.30 |
* Missing data for 1 patient; †Unknown for 349 patients