Clinical and epidemiological study of anemia in hospitalized patients

Abstract

Anemia is a frequent clinic condition that occurs especially in hospitalized patients due to multiple comorbidities, as neoplasms, renal insufficiency and infections. The present study aimed to identify the anemia’s etiology and evaluate the impact on the period of hospitalization and mortality, due to lack of studies that assess the real impact of anemia in the health system and hospital outcomes. Participants in this prospective study included 268 patients over 16 years old, admitted for hospitalization at medical clinic in the period of August 1st of 2016 to October 31st of 2016. Those patients were followed to hospital discharge or death. Regarding the results, 66.3% presented anemia, with median age of 56.6 years and men having a lower mean hemoglobin concentration than women. The most prevalent was normocytic and normochromic anemia, and main etiology was chronic disease (99 patients; 80.48%), also known as anemia of inflammation. Regarding the severity of anemia and mortality it was observed higher rates of death in patients presenting moderate/severe anemia (36.4%) compared to those with mild anemia (18.2%). The study reveals higher prevalence of anemia of chronic disease/anemia of inflammation in hospitalized patients, which contributed to a longer hospital stay and worse outcomes. By the fact anemia is a clinical sign and not an etiologic diagnosis, it’s mandatory to establish a cause in order to treat correctly through the implementation of an effective therapy to enhance quality of life of anemic patients and possible reducing mortality in those hospitalized.