Effects of red blood cell transfusions on exercise tolerance and rehabilitation time after cardiac surgery

Transfusions in cardiac surgery are associated with an increased morbidity and mortality rate. However, no information is available with respect to the recovery process of transfused patients after discharge from the hospital. Two-hundred-seventeen patients who underwent cardiac surgery operations requiring packed red cells transfusions were studied during the rehabilitation stay. The exercise tolerance (6-min walk test) was not dependent on the number of packed red cells units transfused. Conversely, the length of stay in the rehabilitation hospital was independently associated (P = 0.004) with the number of packed red cells transfused, with an increase of 0.6 days per each unit transfused.