About half of all trauma patients experience hypothermia (body temperature less than 36°C), which leads to coagulopathy and poor health outcomes. Since the association between hypothermia and blood use has not be investigated, researchers identified 590 trauma patients enrolled in the Pragmatic Randomized Optimal Platelet and Plasma Ratios (PROPPR) trial with body temperature measurements. Of the 590 patients, 399 (67.6%) experienced hypothermia within 6 hours of arriving at the emergency care center. The mean number of RBC units transfused within the first 24 hours was 8.8. Patients with hypothermia, however, used significantly more RBC units (9.9) compared to patients in the normothermic group (6.3) within the first 24 hours. Furthermore, patients with hypothermia had significantly higher odds of dying compared to normothermic patients both at 24 hours (adjusted OR, 2.7 [95% CI, 1.7-4.5]; p<0.001) and 30 days (adjusted OR, 1.8 [95% CI, 1.3-2.4]; p<0.001). Further research is needed to better understand the effects of preventing hypothermia on mortality, blood use, and organ preservation.
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