Anaemia as Predictor of All-Cause Mortality in Patients with Systolic Dysfunction

A B S T R A C T Anaemia has been associated with worse outcomes in patients with chronic heart failure (HF). We aimed to characterize the clinical profile and outcome (all-cause mortality) of hospitalized patients with reduced ejection fraction (<45%) related to presence of anaemia (haemoglobin <12 g/dL for women and <13 g/dL for men according to WHO definition). We studied 485 patients with systolic dysfunction. Information was retrospectively collected from our database IMAGE, which contains details on demographic, clinical, laboratory, instrumental and follow-up data of all consecutive patients admitted to the Coronary Unit of the Institute of Clinical Physiology, Italian National Research Council. Patients presenting anaemia on admission were older, with lower body mass index, higher white blood cell count (WBC) and creatinine levels. Other inflammatory indices were also higher in anaemic patients, as well as highly sensitive troponin T and N-terminal probrain natriuretic peptide. In our HF population, anaemia was a common finding affecting 24% of the patients, it was associated with inflammatory and oxidative stress indices and it represents an independent predictor of mortality.