Anemia with heart failure: a death risk

MINNEAPOLIS, Aug 17, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Researchers say they've determined low hemoglobin levels are a predictor of increased risk of death and complications among heart failure patients.

Hemoglobin is the major substance in red blood cells, and its level indicates the blood's ability to carry oxygen. Studies have shown low hemoglobin, which may result in anemia, is more common among patients with heart failure than among people in the general population.

Studies indicate as many as 25 percent to 60 percent of heart failure patients have anemia.

"Studies have shown that if you have anemia and heart failure, your risk of death and complications are increased appreciably -- with as much as 30 percent to 60 percent additional risk of death and hospitalization from heart failure," said Dr. Inder Anand, the study's lead author, a professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School and director of the Heart Failure Program at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Minneapolis.

Anand noted researchers don't know if anemia worsens heart failure or if it is a marker of heart failure severity, or what effect raising hemoglobin has on the heart's function.

The research appears in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.