Prevalence and severity of Anemia among the patients with heart failure in relation to their age and gender at Teaching Hospital Batticaloa

Abstract

Heart failure (HF) is a complex syndrome that can result from any structural or functional cardiac disorder that impairs the ability of the heart to function as a pump to support a physiological circulation. Anemia is a condition in which the number of red blood cells or the hemoglobin concentration within them is lower than normal. There are several mechanisms that leads to the anemia in heart failure including chronic heart failure can cause elevation of proinflammatory cytokines such as interleukin 6 and TNF α which decreases the iron available for erythropoiesis and finally leads to anemia. At the same time Anemia can increase the work load of the heart and it leads to worsening of the heart failure. In addition, heart failure may be the longstanding complication of the anemia. The objective is to determine the prevalence and severity of anemia among patients with heart failure in relation to their age and gender at Teaching Hospital Batticaloa. The study design was a descriptive cross-sectional study and was done at Teaching Hospital Batticaloa. patients with heart failure more than 18 years of age were included in this study. Patients with chronic kidney disease, Thalassemia, hereditary anemia and obvious bleedings manifestation were excluded. Data collection was done by the investigators using data collection form. The patients’ age, gender, ejection fraction based on the latest echocardiogram and latest hemoglobin level were collected. Data analysis was done suing a statistical package for social science version 26 (SPSSv.26). A total of 110 participants were included this study, with 63.63%(n=70) being male and 36.36%(n=40) being female. Overall prevalence of anemia was 52.7% (n=58), among them 40.9% (n=45) were males 11.8% (n=13) were females. Gender wise, 64.3% of males and 32.5% of females were anemic. Age wise maximum of 22.7%(n=25) of our population were anemic under the age category of 60-70 years. Total of 19.1% patients (n=21) had HFrEF and 80.9% patients (n=89) had HFmrEF. In terms of HFmrEF, 6.4% had mild anemia and 3.6% had moderate anemia among males and 0.9% had moderate anemia among females. Likewise, within the participants with HFrEF, 22.7% were mildly anemic 8.2% were moderately anemic among males and 8.2% were mildly anemic 2.7% were moderately anemic among females. There were no severe anemia patients in our study. The prevelance of anemia in heart failure patients in our study is 52.7%. According to our study, highest prevalence of anemia was noted within the age group 60-70 years. It concluded that the prevalence of anemia among male heart failure patients is higher than the prevalence of anemia among female heart failure patients. Severity of anemia has worsened with the increasing of age and it is more common among male patients. Interestingly prevalence of anemia is high in male patients with HFrEF and severity of anemia is increased with the age and worsening of heart failure.