Regarding the article “Costs associated with blood transfusion in Sweden – the societal cost of autologous, allogeneic and perioperative RBC transfusion”

Blood use in hematologic malignancies: a nationwide overview in Sweden between 2000 and 2010

“…These results may not be directly generalizable to hematologic patients, as aforementioned calculations include costs for prolonged hospital stay as well as non–transfusion‐related costs such as loss of income. Details of the study on surgical patients in Sweden have also been contested, leaving little guidance in calculating the total costs of transfusions in the literature . Calculations using activity‐based costing in the United States have shown that costs for administrating RBC transfusions reach upwards of $700 per unit, which is more than four times the direct material cost in Sweden .…”

“…Details of the study on surgical patients in Sweden have also been contested, leaving little guidance in calculating the total costs of transfusions in the literature. 13 Calculations using activity-based costing in the United States have shown that costs for administrating RBC transfusions reach upwards of $700 per unit, which is more than four times the direct material cost in Sweden. 14 A recent cost estimation in the United Kingdom (reported in abstract only) has indicated costs for administrating blood transfusions per unit transfused to be around 50 to 60 British pounds, which would be roughly 35 and 15% of the direct material cost in Sweden for RBC and PLT transfusions, respectively.…”