“…12,17,20,23,24 More importantly in animal and human studies of patients in shock, microvascular perfusion and oxygen consumption remains the same or decreases with RBC transfusion. 8,17,[25][26][27]59 The importance of the effect of RBC storage age on outcomes in critically ill patients is highlighted by the fact that the average age of transfused RBCs in the United States is 22 days 60 and multiple studies have indicated that the age of RBCs transfused is associated with increased morbidity and mortality in the critically ill. 18,22,61 The independent association of the amount of RBC transfusions with decreased survival may be related to the increased storage age of RBCs transfused to all patients in our study (33 days). The mean storage age of RBCs transfused per patient was not able to be analyzed as a variable associated with survival since this data were not recorded per patient.…”