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A Point-of-Care Method with Integrated Decision Support Tool to Estimate Anemia at Population Level
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Relationship between anemia and health care costs in heart failure

Larry A Allen1, Kevin J Anstrom, John R Horton

  • 1Division of Cardiology, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA. larry.allen@ucdenver.edu

Journal of Cardiac Failure
|December 1, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Anemia in heart failure (HF) patients significantly increases healthcare costs, particularly for those with reduced ejection fraction. Addressing anemia may reduce overall economic burden in HF care.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Health Economics
  • Internal Medicine

Background:

  • Anemia is a known predictor of adverse outcomes in heart failure (HF) patients.
  • The economic impact of anemia in heart failure remains incompletely understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between anemia and healthcare costs in patients with symptomatic heart failure.
  • To determine if anemia independently contributes to increased healthcare expenditures in HF.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of data from 1056 symptomatic heart failure patients (2002-2006).
  • Healthcare costs extracted from hospital accounting systems.
  • Adjustments for censoring and covariates using inverse probability weighting and propensity scores.

Main Results:

  • Anemia prevalence was 32% in the study cohort.
  • Anemic patients had significantly higher adjusted costs per year alive ($22,926 vs. $17,189, P=.04).
  • This cost difference was more pronounced in patients with ejection fraction ≤40% ($32,914 vs. $18,423, P=.01).

Conclusions:

  • Anemia in heart failure patients is independently linked to higher total healthcare costs, even after adjusting for survival.
  • The economic burden of anemia appears concentrated in patients with impaired systolic function (low ejection fraction).
  • Targeting anemia treatment in heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction may offer the greatest cost-saving potential.
Abstract

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