Leukodepleted Packed Red Blood Cells Transfusion in Patients Undergoing Major Cardiovascular Surgical Procedure: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Table 2

Summary of findings: GRADE criteria.

Leukodepleted packed red blood cells transfusion in patients undergoing a major cardiovascular surgical procedure
Patient or population: patients undergoing a major cardiovascular surgical procedure transfused with allogeneic packed red blood cells (PRBC)
Setting: hospital
Intervention: leukodepleted (PRBC)
Comparison: non-leukodepleted (PRBC)
Outcomes	Anticipated absolute effects (95% CI)		Relative effect (95% CI)	No. of participants (studies)	Certainty of the evidence (grade)	Comments
	Risk with non-leukodepleted (PRBC)	Risk with leukodepleted (PRBC)
Death. Number of events of the total number of transfused patients reported	79 per 1.000	54 per 1.000 (42 to 71)	RR 0.69 (0.53 to 0.90)	2771 (7 RCTs)	⊕⊕⊕◯ Moderate^a,b	TSA yielded an inconclusive result.
Infection. Number of events of the total number of transfused patients reported	259 per 1.000	200 per 1.000 (171 to 236)	RR 0.77 (0.66 to 0.91)	1852 (5 RCTs)	⊕⊕⊕◯ Moderate^a,b	TSA yielded a conclusive result.

The risk in the intervention group (and its 95% confidence interval) is based on the assumed risk in the comparison group and the relative effect of the intervention (and its 95% CI). CI: confidence interval; RR: risk ratio. The overall certainty in the evidence should be assessed for each important outcome using four or three categories (such as high, moderate, low, and/or very low) and definitions for each category that are consistent with the definitions used by the GRADE Working Group. ^aDowngraded because one study has high risk of bias due to attrition bias; another study has other risk of bias at high risk of bias; three studies have unclear risk of bias in generation and allocation concealment of random sequence. ^bDowngraded due to high risk of bias; one study has high risk of bias due to attrition bias; another study has high risk of bias in a random sequence; five studies have unclear risk of bias in generation and allocation concealment of random sequence.