Do blood transfusions kill more patients with an acute myocardial infarction than anemia? Chatterjee and colleagues1 would have you believe that they do. We remain unconvinced.
In reviewing the study, we first wondered whether the authors asked the right question. As physicians, we believe that profound anemia is life threatening,2 and as a consequence transfusions in many patients are life saving. Therefore, we expected that more nuanced, clinically relevant questions would be addressed.