Iron Deficiency Screening in Patients Admitted with Acute Heart Failure Decompensation

Correction of iron deficiency (ID) with intravenous iron among patients with heart failure (HF) may improve outcomes but is rarely assessed in real-world studies. Hospital admission for decompensated HF presents an opportunity to identify patients for treatment of ID. Of 2,275 patient admissions for decompensated HF, iron studies were available for 526 (23.1%) and ID was identified in 332 (63.1%) patients. Iron replacement was oral in 241 (10.6%) or intravenous in 285 (12.5%) with 132 (46.3%) patients receiving treatment during the admission. Anemia, chronic kidney disease stage 3 (CKD3), and low mean corpuscular volume (MCV) were associated with a higher odds of iron study availability while age was associated with lower odds. Frequency of assessment of ID in HF patients remains low. Predictors of iron status assessment indicate that factors related to anemia rather than HF are likely responsible for iron status assessment among these patients.