The authors provide several hypotheses for potential etiologies of this reduced mortality, but, given the known increase in thrombosis and increased benefit in trauma patients as well as marginal nonsignificant benefit (adjusted hazard ratio of 0.9) in surgery patients, it could be speculated that some of the benefit might be secondary to the procoagulant effect of erythropoietin. Regardless, this study suggests further research may be necessary to see which critical care patients, if any, might benefit from administration of erythropoietin. Any benefit of erythropoietin use must be weighed against the increased likelihood of thrombosis, which has been demonstrated in numerous trials.
The authors offer several explanations for the reduced mortality observed, but given the known increase in blood clots and the positive effects seen in trauma patients as well as minimal benefit (adjusted hazard ratio of 0.9) in surgery patients, it's possible that some of the benefits are due to erythropoietin's procoagulant properties.  Further research is needed to determine if any critical care patients could benefit from erythropoietin administration. The potential benefits must be weighed against the increased risk of blood clots, which has been observed in numerous trials.