The prevalence and impact of anemia in hospitalized older adults: A single center experience from Bahrain.

J Taibah Univ Med Sci

Internal Medicine Department, Salmaniya Medical Complex, Manama, Bahrain.

Published: August 2022

Objectives: This study reports the prevalence of anemia and investigates its associated correlates and outcomes among elderly hospitalized patients in a single hospital in Bahrain.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on 227 consecutive elderly patients admitted under general internal medicine in the biggest tertiary hospital in Bahrain. Medical records were reviewed for all patients, including clinical characteristics, laboratory results, and outcomes.

Results: Anemia was highly prevalent among hospitalized elderly patients (71.6%). Males were significantly more affected than females (p = 0.031). In terms of severity, the most common type was moderate anemia (56.1%); with regards to etiology, the most common type was anemia associated with chronic disease (48.1%). Anemia was as common as other comorbidities, including hypertension (71.4%) and diabetes mellitus (53.7%). When comparing anemic to non-anemic patients, the length of hospital stay was significantly longer (p < 0.001) and inversely correlated to the level of hemoglobin; furthermore, 1-year mortality was significantly higher (p < 0.001). When compared to those with mild anemia, patients with moderate/severe anemia were more likely to die (odds ratio [OR] = 2.2, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.27-4.92).

Conclusion: The prevalence of anemia in our study was higher than previously reported. Even so, anemia receives minimal attention and is usually seen as a minor problem. Our results reiterate the need to recognize the high importance of anemia especially when diagnosing and treating older patients. This, in turn, could positively affect a number of outcomes such as mortality, length of stay, and the functional decline of admitted individuals.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9356376PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtumed.2022.02.003DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

elderly patients
8
common type
8
anemia
6
patients
5
prevalence impact
4
impact anemia
4
anemia hospitalized
4
hospitalized older
4
older adults
4
adults single
4

Similar Publications

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!