Greater anemia tolerance among hospitalized females compared to males.

Background: Although females have a lower baseline hemoglobin (Hb) compared to males, it is unknown whether females have a greater tolerance for anemia when hospitalized. We tested the hypothesis that females tolerate severe anemia better than males, with decreased inpatient mortality in this setting.

Study Design And Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study in 230,644 adult patients admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital from January 2009 to June 2016.