Background: Anemia is one of the precipitating factors leading to congestive heart failure. Although much data indicate that
anemia is associated with worsening clinical outcomes in heart failure patients, only few studies have been conducted on the
subjects in Thailand. Hence, the researchers decided to study about this issue.
Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate whether anemia could have adverse effects on mortality and morbidity rates in patients with a diagnosis of heart failure.
Material and Method: A retrospective cross-sectional study was performed by collecting data from medical records of
patients who were admitted in Rajavithi Hospital due to congestive heart failure from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2012. Those data showed a total 486 patients with congestive heart failure treated during the period. Of the 486 patients, 18 were excluded on the basis of selection criteria, a total of 468. These selected patients were divided in two groups, one group of
congestive heart failure patients with anemia (n = 221) and another group of congestive heart failure patients without anemia (n = 247).
Results: The study showed that the mortality rate in patients with the anemia group was 8.6%, whereas among nonanemic
patients no deaths were reported (0%) [p-value <0.0001]. Patients with anemia had a higher incidence of no restoration of
spontaneous circulation after Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (3.62%) than nonanemic patients (0%) [p-value = 0.002]. No
difference was observed in the use of inotropic drugs between the two groups [p-value = 0.078]. The patients with anemia
(14.75+20.31 days) had a longer duration of hospital admission than nonanemic patients (7.12+8.57 days) [p-value
<0.0001].
Conclusion: Anemia was associated with increased morbidity and mortality rate among heart failure patients. The mortality
rate tended to increases in correlation with the severity of the anemia. Moreover, blood transfusion after congestive heart
failure occurrence may not reduce the mortality rate.

Keywords: Anemia, Congestive heart failure, Morbidity, Mortality