Adjusting Current Hemoglobin Thresholds: A Way to Improve Outcome in Women Undergoing Major Surgery.

In the perioperative setting, a suboptimal total hemoglobin (Hb) mass puts women and men at an unreasonable disadvantage. Anemia is an independent risk factor for transfusion, postoperative complications, and mortality. The Hb cut-off value for women was set at <12.