Preoperative hemogram as a predictive factor for iron deficit and/or transfusion in patients scheduled for...

Anemia and iron deficiency predispose to an increased risk of transfusion with a consequent increase in morbidity and mortality. The study analyzes whether blood cell count parameters in addition to detecting anemia can predict iron deficiency and/or transfusional risk in patients undergoing mostly to scheduled primary hip and knee arthroplasty.

To analyze how blood cell count parameters predict iron deficiency and/or transfusional risk in patients undergoing programmed arthroplasty.

The analytical and transfusion results of 522 patients undergoing arthroplasty have been prospectively collected between 2013 and 2019 and the discriminative and predictive capacity of the basic parameters of the red cells have been analyzed; hemoglobin (Hb), mean cell volume, mean cell hemoglobin (HCM) and red blood cell distribution width (RDW) for the identification of presurgical iron deficiency and postsurgical transfusion.

Anaemia was detected in 6.6%, "suboptim" Hb (<13g/dL) in 14.5% and iron deficiency in 32.4%. Anemia detects only 13.8% of ID. After logistic regression analysis, the multivariate model significantly related Hb (p=.004), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) (p=.026), and the red cell distribution width (RDW) (p=.001) with ID; but mean corpuscular volume (MCV) is not significant. Hb, age and transferrin saturation index have been the only risk factors for transfusional risk of the parameters analyzed.

The hemogram contains parameters that correlate with iron deficiency, however, mean cell volume, so widely used for the orientation of iron deficiency, is not valid as a discriminator of iron deficiency in this group of patients. Low Hb and transferrin saturation index are modifiable predictors for transfusion risk.