Objective: To assess whether anemia is an independent predictor of poor long-term outcome after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).
Methods: The second drug-eluting stent impact on revascularization registry (DESIRE-2) is a single-center registry of 6005 patients undergoing coronary revascularization from July 2003 to September 2005. We examined the clinical data and outcome of 3809 PCI patients based on hemoglobin (Hb) value before the interventional procedure. Patients were classified as anemia using the World Health Organization definition (< 120 g/L in women and < 130 g/L in men). 744 of the 3809 patients were anemic. We compared the clinical features and prognosis of the patients with or without anemia.
Results: Anemic patients were older and had a higher percentage of comorbidities as compared with the nonanemic ones. When compared with nonanemic patients, anemic patients had higher mortality (4.7% vs 1.5%, P < 0.001) and higher major adverse event end points, including nonfatal myocardial infarction, stroke and revascularization (14.0% vs 10.8%, P = 0.014). After adjustment for comorbidities, anemia was associated with a higher risk of mortality after percutaneous coronary intervention (RR 2.216, 95% CI 1.019-4.428; P = 0.024).
Conclusions: Anemia is an independent predictor of mortality after PCI. Since PCI is a common procedure and anemia is a frequent condition in the general population, strategies for the management of anemic PCI patients should be developed.