Impact of baseline anemia on the short- and long-term prognosis of patients presenting with non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction

Anaemia at admission is a known predictor of death in patients with myocardial infarction with ST-elevation (STEMI). Data on the effect of anaemia on the prognosis in patients with non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) is less readily available. Purpose: We aimed to evaluate the frequency of anaemia in a Bulgarian tertiary centre NSTEMI patient population, and its effect on the immediate and extended prognosis of the patients. Methods: We performed ambispective analysis of 138 consecutive patients with NSTEMI, and anaemia was defi ned as haemoglobin at admission below 120 g/L for females and below 130 g/L for males. Results: There was no signifi cant difference in the frequencies of standard risk factors between patients with and without anaemia. Anaemic patients tended to be older, with lower body mass index and worse kidney function. Patients with baseline anaemia tended to have higher GRACE risk scores and a larger size of the realised myocardial infarction as judged by maximal reached troponin I. There was no signifi cant difference in interventional treatment in both groups. Median hospital stay was signifi cantly longer in anaemic patients and was marked by more complications. Despite a lack of increase in inhospital bleeding and no difference in treatment with oral antiaggregants, patients with anaemia received haemotransfusion treatment more often. Mortality rate was higher in anaemic patients both during the index hospitalization and during the follow up. Conclusion: Anaemia at admission is associated with an increased risk of both in hospital cardiovascular complications and after dehospitalisation all-cause mortality in patients with NSTEMI and should be considered as an additional risk factor in the global risk assessment of patients.