Anaemia in heart failure: still relevant?

 

Šarūnė Tribušauskaitė1, Gabrielė Čėsnaitė1, doc. dr. Jolanta Laukaitienė2

1Lietuvos sveikatos mokslų universitetas, medicinos fakultetas;

2Lietuvos sveikatos mokslų universiteto Kauno klinikos, kardiologijos klinika

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Studies have shown that iron deficiency, with or without anemia, exacerbates the symptoms and worsens the condition of heart failure.[1-2]

Aim: To evaluate and compare the baseline characteristics of patient with chronic heart failure comapred two groups.

Methods: Data of 132 patients with CHF were included in the analysis. A demographic, echocardiography measurements, New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class, treatment of CHF data were collected. Patients were divided into two groups by haemoglobin level (Hgb): 1st group – patients without anaemia and 2nd group – patients with anaemia (Hgb <130 g/l for men and <120 g/d for women).

Results: 132 clinical cases were investigated, 78 (59.1 %) were male patients and 54 (40.9 %) – female. 60 (45.5 %)patients with CHF were anemic (2nd group) and 72 (54.5%) – nonanemic (1st group) The average age of patients in 2nd group was higher compared with 1st group – 71,9±11,9 vs. 64,7±11,9 years old (p < 0.001). The mean Hb concentration for anemic group – 113.5±15.3 g/l, nonanemic – 143,5±11,7 g/l. A statistically significant age-dependent decline in haemoglobin levels was observed (p < 0.001, r = -0.420). The mean NYHA class was 2.7±0.7 in 2nd group group and 2.8±0.6 in 1st group. There was no any significant differences in echocardiography data. We found that patients in the 2nd group used warfarin more often than patients in the 1st group (48.3 % vs. 29.2 %, p 0.024). Only 10% of all anemic patients used oral iron preparations.

Conclusions: 1. Gender, echocardiography data, NYHA class were similar and did not show any significant differences between patients groups. 2. A statistically significant inverse relationship was determined between the age of patients and haemoglobin concentration of plasma. 3. We found that patients with anemia used warfarin more often than patients without anemia.

Key words: heart failure, anaemia, warfarin.