Preoperative Anemia as a Simple Prognostic Factor in Patients with Urinary Bladder Cancer

BACKGROUND To evaluate the incidence of preoperative anemia and its prognostic role in patients with urinary bladder cancer (BC). MATERIAL AND METHODS A total of 317 patients diagnosed with BC were enrolled in this retrospective cohort study. Univariate and multivariate analysis was used to identify independent prognostic factors and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was applied to examine the influence of anemia on survival. RESULTS 109 patients (34.4%) were anemic with a median preoperative hemoglobin of 114 g/L (interquartile range 104 to 122.5). After a median of 6 years follow-up (range: 2 to 8 years), the median recurrence-free survival (RFS), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) in anemic patients were significantly lower than non-anemic patients (p≤0.001). Multivariate Cox analysis indicated that anemia remained an independent predictor of RFS and OS (p=0.010, 0.007). CONCLUSIONS Anemic patients with BC are likely to have a shorter RFS and OS than non-anemic patients, and anemia is an independent predictor of RFS and OS.