Survey of blood transfusion practice for palliative care patients in Yorkshire: implications for clinical care.

Blood transfusions can be used to palliate the symptoms of fatigue or dyspnea in the presence of anemia. We studied the transfusion practices of 8 hospices in our cancer network over a 1-year period. We identified 164 patients who received 650 units of blood in 230 transfusions. The majority of patients received a single transfusion (71%), of 2 or 3 units of blood (76%), as an inpatient (83%). Blood transfusions occurred in 140 (5.7%) of 2460 hospice admissions. Median survival following first transfusion was 42 days and significantly longer for outpatients compared to inpatients (median of 104 days and 36 days, respectively, p = 0.006).