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Table 2 Baseline characteristics of the patient cohort analysed.

From: The impact of administration of tranexamic acid in reducing the use of red blood cells and other blood products in cardiac surgery

Variable

Whole Cohort

TA group

NTA group

p value

TA vs. NTA

All patients (n, %)

4191

3359 (80)

832 (20)

-

Sex (n, %)

    

   Male

3153 (75)

2537 (76)

616 (74)

0.373

Priority (n, %)

    

   Elective

3437 (82)

2750 (82)

687 (82)

0.839

   Urgent

687 (16)

556 (16)

131 (16)

 

   Emergency

67 (2)

53 (2)

14 (2)

 

Surgery type (n, %)

    

   CABG

2933 (70)

2338 (70)

595 (72)

0.035

   Valve

818 (20)

648 (19)

170 (20)

 

   Combined

440 (10)

373 (11)

67 (8)

 

Mean Age (SD)

67 (10.2)

67.2 (10.2)

66.3 (10.3)

0.019

Mean BMI (SD)

27.5 (4.4)

27.5 (4.4)

27.7 (4.6)

0.215

EuroSCORE (Median, IQR)

4 (2,6)

4 (2,6)

4 (2,6)

0.014

Transfusion (n, %)

    

   RBC

1933 (46)

1513 (45)

420 (50)

0.005

   FFP

383 (9.1)

288 (8.6)

95 (11)

0.011

   Any blood products

1970 (47)

1543 (46)

427 (51)

0.005

Return to theatre (n, %)

229 (5.5)

160 (4.8)

69 (8.3)

< 0.001

ICU stay > 1 day (n, %)

933 (22)

735 (22)

198 (24)

0.234

  1. Baseline characteristics of the patient cohort analysed. Patients who were in the tranexamic acid group were older, had a higher EuroSCORE (mean (SD) 4.61 (3.12) compared to4.36 (3.13) in the NTA group) and higher proportion of them underwent combined procedures. Despite this, the rates of transfusion of RBC, FFP, all blood products and the rate of return to theatre for bleeding were lower for patients in this group. (TA – tranexamic acid, NTA – no tranexamic acid, SD – Standard Deviation, CABG – coronary artery bypass grafting, Valve – single valve repair or replacement, combined – coronary artery bypass grafting and single valve surgery, BMI – body mass index, RBC – red blood cells, FFP – fresh frozen plasma, ICU – intensive care unit, n – number, IQR – inter quartile range)