Thromb Haemost 2011; 106(02): 289-295
DOI: 10.1160/TH11-04-0208
Blood Coagulation, Fibrinolysis and Cellular Haemostasis
Schattauer GmbH

Prognostic importance of anaemia in patients with acute pulmonary embolism

Jacques Donzé
1   Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
,
José Labarère
2   TIMC, UMR 5525 CNRS Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France
,
Marie Méan
1   Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
,
David Jiménez
3   Respiratory Department, Ramòn y Cajal Hospital, IRYCIS, Madrid, Spain
,
Drahomir Aujesky
4   Division of General Internal Medicine, Bern University Hospital, Bern, Switzerland
› Author Affiliations
Financial support: This study was partially supported by grant 1 R21 HL075521–01A1 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Bethesda, MD, and by grant 33CSCO-122659 from the Swiss National Science Foundation.
Further Information

Publication History

Received: 04 April 2011

Accepted after major revision: 12 May 2011

Publication Date:
25 November 2017 (online)

Summary

Although associated with adverse outcomes in other cardiopulmonary diseases, limited evidence exists on the prognostic value of anaemia in patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE). We sought to examine the associations between anaemia and mortality and length of hospital stay in patients with PE. We evaluated 14,276 patients with a primary diagnosis of PE from 186 hospitals in Pennsylvania, USA. We used random-intercept logistic regression to assess the association between anaemia at the time of presentation and 30-day mortality and discretetime logistic hazard models to assess the association between anaemia and time to hospital discharge, adjusting for patient (age, gender, race, insurance type, clinical and laboratory variables) and hospital (region, size, teaching status) factors. Anaemia was present in 38.7% of patients at admission. Patients with anaemia had a higher 30-day mortality (13.7% vs. 6.3%; p <0.001) and a longer length of stay (geometric mean, 6.9 vs. 6.6 days; p <0.001) compared to patients without anaemia. In multivariable analyses, anaemia remained associated with an increased odds of death (OR 1.82, 95% CI: 1.60–2.06) and a decreased odds of discharge (OR 0.85, 95% CI: 0.82–0.89). Anaemia is very common in patients presenting with PE and is independently associated with an increased short-term mortality and length of stay.

 
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