AABB, with the valued assistance of its expert member committees, develops a variety of resources to help guide professionals in keeping abreast of clinical issues in transfusion medicine. AABB is a leader in producing clinical practice guidelines for utilization of blood components in the U.S. and internationally. In addition, the association develops informational documents and guidance regarding a wide range of clinical and technical topics facing transfusion medicine professionals.
Published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, these guidelines reflect the most up-to-date published evidence available, and replace the interim recommendations from early 2021. The AABB Board of Directors commissioned a committee of experts to draft clinical practice guidelines. Consistent with previous clinical practice guidelines from AABB, the committee performed a formal systematic review and meta-analysis of the data and used GRADE methodology to formulate the current recommendations. The committee focused exclusively on randomized clinical trial data to minimize the risk of bias.
Updated guidelines, published in JAMA and developed by an international panel of experts led by AABB, recommended a restrictive red blood cell transfusion strategy for most patient populations, but emphasized the importance of considering individual signs & symptoms and clinical contexts when deciding on transfusion. These updated guidelines are based on a systematic review and meta-analysis of 45 randomized clinical trials for adults and seven for pediatric populations.
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