Hospital-acquired anemia found in 64% of 108 ICU patients at a southwest Florida hospital
A retrospective review of one southwest Florida ICU found a hemoglobin decline of 10% or more in 64% of patients. Their stays were longer on average.
Researchers reviewed medical records from the intensive care unit of a hospital in southwest Florida and found hospital-acquired anemia (HAA) in 69 of 108 adult patients (64%), according to a study in American Journal of Critical Care doi.org
American Journal of Critical Caredoi.orgOpen source ↗. The retrospective, exploratory review used a 6-month convenience sample of 151 patients, of whom 108 met the inclusion criteria. HAA was defined as a decline in hemoglobin of 10% or more from admission to discharge.
Hemoglobin decline and length of stay
The mean (SD) hemoglobin decline was 20% (8%) in patients with HAA and 4% (2%) in those without it (P < .001). Stays were longer for the 69 patients with HAA than for the 39 without: mean 5.9 (SD 5.8) days versus 3.3 (3.6) days (P = .005).
A sensitivity analysis excluded 6 outliers, leaving 102 patients. The difference persisted: 5.1 (4.2) days with HAA versus 2.8 (1.7) days without (P < .001).
Possible causes and limits
The authors name phlebotomy, intravenous fluid resuscitation and medications as contributing factors to HAA in intensive care units doi.org
American Journal of Critical Caredoi.orgOpen source ↗. In this study, causality regarding phlebotomy was not directly measured. The work is a retrospective record review in one unit, so it describes a correlation between hemoglobin decline and longer stays.
The authors concluded that the high prevalence of HAA supports implementing blood conservation strategies to improve clinical outcomes and reduce iatrogenic blood loss.
