Does preoperative anemia or polycythemia increase the risk of 30-day postoperative mortality and cardiac events in older veterans undergoing major noncardiac surgery?
Even mild preoperative anemia or polycythemia is associated with increased short-term mortality and cardiac events in older veterans undergoing noncardiac surgery.
Even mild degrees of preoperative anemia or polycythemia were associated with an increased risk of 30-day postoperative mortality and cardiac events in older, mostly male veterans undergoing major noncardiac surgery. Future studies should determine whether these findings are reproducible in other populations and if preoperative management of anemia or polycythemia decreases the risk of postoperative mortality.
Wu et al. (Tue,) studied this question.