Background and objective: There is a high prevalence of anemia in patients with heart failure which is related to their outcome. The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of anemia (haemoglobin < 12 g/dl) in patients attended in a Multidisciplinary Heart Failure Unit and to analyze the correlation of hemoglobin levels and the presence of anemia with demographic, clinic, biological and therapeutic parameters.
Patients and method: Between August 2001 and February 2003, 330 patients were attended (mean age [SD], 68.0 [9.3] years). Simple lineal regression, multiple lineal regression, *2 test, Student t test and Kruskal-Wallis test were used for statistical analysis.
Results: 30% patients had anemia. We found a significant correlation between plasmatic hemoglobin levels and age, gender, etiology of heart failure, coexistence of diabetes, absence of smoking habit, functional class, quality of life, plasmatic levels of urea, creatinine and cholesterol, treatment with diuretics and nitrates and the absence of treatment with betablockers. Surprisingly, there was no relationship between treatment with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, antiplatelet drugs or anticoagulants and the presence of low levels of hemoglobin.
Conclusions: The prevalence of anemia in a general population with heart failure is high. Plasmatic hemoglobin levels were related to several parameters, mainly age, gender, functional class and plasmatic levels of urea and cholesterol.