![]() |
JOURNAL TOOLS |
Publishing options |
eTOC |
To subscribe |
Submit an article |
Recommend to your librarian |
ARTICLE TOOLS |
Reprints |
Permissions |
Share |


YOUR ACCOUNT
YOUR ORDERS
SHOPPING BASKET
Items: 0
Total amount: € 0,00
HOW TO ORDER
YOUR SUBSCRIPTIONS
YOUR ARTICLES
YOUR EBOOKS
COUPON
ACCESSIBILITY
ORIGINAL ARTICLES
Minerva Cardioangiologica 2010 February;58(1):1-10
Copyright © 2010 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA
language: English
Iron deficiency anemia and cardiac mortality in patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction undergoing coronary stenting
Varma A. 1, Appleton D. L. 1, Nusca A. 2, Lipinski M. J. 3, Goudreau E. 1, Cowley M. J. 1, Wittkamp M. 1, Vetrovec G. W. 1, Abbate A. 1 ✉
1 Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Internal Medicine, Richmond, VA, USA; 2 University Campus Bio-Medico, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Rome, Italy; 3 University of Virginia, Department of Internal Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA
AIM: The aim of this study was to assess cardiac mortality in patients with reduced ejection fraction (EF≤45%) and anemia (Hb≤12 g/dL) undergoing coronary stenting and to investigate whether iron-deficiency anemia influenced outcome when compared to non-anemic patients or patients with other types of anemia.
METHODS: One hundred twenty consecutive patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) between April 2003 and December 2005 were identified and followed for a median of 30 months. Patients were divided into 2 groups, anemic (Hb≤12 g/dL) and non-anemic. Anemic patients were then divided into 3 sub-groups based on laboratory analysis and anemia work-up: iron-deficiency, malignancy-associated, and anemia of chronic disease (including chronic kidney disease). Mortality rates and cause of death were retrieved using both the Social Security database and the hospital records.
RESULTS: Thirty-one percent of patients had iron deficiency, 24% had a malignancy-associated anemia and 45% had anemia of chronic disease. Overall mortality was 12% of which 29% was cardiac death. All-cause and cardiac mortality were significantly higher in anemic vs. non-anemic patients, (31% vs. 6%, P<0.001, and 10% vs. 1%, P=0.016, respectively). Iron-deficiency anemia strongly predicted cardiac mortality (33% vs. 1% in non-anemic patients, P<0.001), while malignancy-associated anemia was the strongest predictor of non-cardiac death (57% vs. 4% in non-anemic patients, P<0.001). Anemia of chronic disease neither predicted cardiac nor non-cardiac death.
CONCLUSIONS: To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to show that iron-deficiency anemia is a strong predictor of cardiac death when compared to patients with other types of anemia or to non-anemic patients.