[The statistical analysis of prevalence of anemia in patients with chronic heart failure]

Development of anemia in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) is associated with worsening of disease what has been shown in numerous trials. According to various data prevalence of the syndrome varies depending on chosen populations of patients and criteria of anemia. We observed 1122 patients (mean age 71.5 +/- 0.56 years) with CHF NYHA class II-IV (average 3.08 +/- 0.022). Anemia was found in 317 patients (28.3%); 59.3% of these patients were women and 40.7% - men. There were significantly more subjects with NYHA class IV CHF among patients with anemia (p < 0.001). Hospital mortality was 14.8 and 13.4% among patients with anemia and normal hemoglobin, respectively (p = 0.038). Analysis of mortality structure showed that among patients with anemia compared with those without there were fewer deaths due to pulmonary embolism (27.6 vs. 43.5%, p = 0.044) and more deaths due to decompensation of CHF (60.3 vs. 41.7%, p = 0.022). So this study demonstrated high rate of anemia among hospitalized patients with CHF and its association with higher NYHA class and worse prognosis.