Oluwatoyosi A. Onwuemene

Background Major bleeding in patients undergoing therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) has been studied in large databases; but without standardizing bleeding definitions. Therefore, we used standardized definitions to evaluate major bleeding in hospitalized patients undergoing TPE using public use data files from the Recipient Epidemiology and Donor Evaluation Study‐III (REDS‐III). Study Design and Methods In a retrospective cross‐sectional analysis, we identified TPE‐treated adults in a first inpatient encounter. We evaluated major bleeding prevalence using (1) International Classification of Diseases (ICD) or Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes, (2) packed red blood cell (PRBC) transfusion, or (3) hemoglobin (Hgb) decline. Patients with major bleeding prior to their first TPE were excluded from the analysis. Results Among 779 patients undergoing TPE, major bleeding by at least one of the three bleeding definitions occurred in 135 patients (17.3%). For each of the ICD/CPT, PRBC, and Hgb definitions, the prevalence of major bleeding was 2.8% (n = 31), 7.4% (n = 81), and 5.4% (n = 59), respectively. Only 3.7% of bleeds (5/135) were captured by all three definitions and 19.3% (26/135) exclusively by any two pairwise definitions. The addition of PRBC transfusion and Hgb decline to ICD/CPT code definitions increased bleeding prevalence threefold. Conclusion Among hospitalized adults undergoing TPE in the REDS‐III study, the prevalence of major bleeding was 17.3%. The addition of PRBC and Hgb decline to ICD codes increased bleeding prevalence threefold. Future studies are needed to develop validated models that identify patients at risk for major bleeding during TPE.