Postoperative mortality in cardiac surgery versus other surgical settings, as calculated from randomized controlled trials investigating the association of nonwhite blood cell–reduced ABT with short-term (up to 3 months after transfusion) mortality from all causes.^13-15,45-52  The figure shows the odds ratio (OR) of mortality in recipients of nonwhite blood cell–reduced versus white blood cell (WBC)–reduced allogeneic RBCs, as calculated from each randomized controlled trial (RCT), across RCTs conducted in cardiac surgery (A)^13-15,49,51  (summary OR = 1.72; 95% CI, 1.05-2.81), and across RCTs conducted in other settings (B)^45-48,50,52  (summary OR = 0.99; 95% CI, 0.73-1.33).⁵³  A WBC-mediated deleterious ABT effect (and thus a benefit from WBC reduction) is demonstrated by an OR more than 1, provided that the effect is statistically significant (P < .05; ie, provided that the associated 95% confidence interval [CI] does not include the null value of 1).