Does preoperative anaemia increase mortality and poor outcomes in patients undergoing surgery?
Preoperative anaemia is a significant marker for poor surgical outcomes and increased need for red cell transfusion, though its role as an independent risk factor remains unclear.
Preoperative anaemia is associated with poor outcomes after surgery, although heterogeneity between studies was significant. It remains unclear whether anaemia is an independent risk factor for poor outcome or simply a marker of underlying chronic disease. However, red cell transfusion is much more frequent amongst anaemic patients.
Fowler et al. (Wed,) studied this question.