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For patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI) and anemia, 30-day risks for death or recurrent MI seem to increase with lower hemoglobin thresholds for transfusion, according to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Gerard T. Portela, PhD, from the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues estimated the efficacy of four individual hemoglobin thresholds (<10 g/dL, <9 g/dL, <8 g/dL, and <7 g/dL) to guide transfusion in patients with acute MI and anemia in a secondary analysis of the Myocardial Ischemia and Transfusion (MINT) trial conducted in 144 sites in six countries. The analysis included 3,492 MINT trial participants with acute MI. The researchers found that the 30-day risk for death or recurrent MI (death/MI) was 14.8%, 15.1%, 15.9%, and 18.3% (<10-g/dL, <9-g/dL, <8-g/dL, and <7-g/dL, respectively). Relative to a strategy of less than 10-g/dL, the absolute risk differences and risk ratios increased as thresholds decreased, although the 95% CIs were wide. Similar and imprecise findings were seen for 30-day death.