Lu Dai1, Stephanie L Mick2, Keith R McCrae3, Penny L Houghtaling4, Joseph F Sabik2, Eugene H Blackstone5, Colleen G Koch6. 1. Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland. 2. Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Heart and Vascular Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland. 3. Department of Hematology and Oncology, Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland. 4. Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland. 5. Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Heart and Vascular Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland; Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland. 6. Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland. Electronic address: ckoch11@jhmi.edu.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Preoperative anemia, defined by hemoglobin level, is associated with elevated risk after cardiac operation. Better understanding of anemia requires characterization beyond this. This investigation focuses on red cell size and its association with patient characteristics and outcomes after cardiac operation. METHODS: From January 2010 to January 2014, 10,589 patients underwent elective cardiac operations at Cleveland Clinic. Anemia was characterized as normocytic, microcytic, or macrocytic based on mean corpuscular volume (MCV). Models for hospital complications were developed using multivariable logistic regression. Other outcomes were postoperative transfusion and intensive care unit (ICU) and postoperative hospital lengths of stay. RESULTS: A total of 2,715 patients (26%) were anemic. Of these, 2,365 (87%) had normocytic, 219 (8.1%) microcytic, and 131 (4.8%) macrocytic anemia. Non-anemic patients (n = 2,041, 26%) received transfusions compared with 1,553 (66%) normocytic, 148 (68%) microcytic, and 97 (74%) macrocytic anemia patients. Patients with normocytic or macrocytic anemia had more renal failure (normocytic: odds ratio (OR) 1.9, macrocytic: OR 3.5), other complications (normocytic: OR 1.3, macrocytic: OR 2.2) and death (normocytic: OR 2.0, macrocytic: OR 6.2) than non-anemic patients; patients with microcytic anemia had fewer reoperations (OR 0.35) and less postoperative atrial fibrillation (OR 0.50). Anemic patients experienced longer ICU (27 versus 48 hours, p < 0.001) and postoperative hospital (6.1 versus 7.4 days, p < 0.001) length of stay than non-anemic patients. CONCLUSIONS: Cardiac surgical patients are often anemic. Demographic characteristics, comorbidities, and outcomes are dissimilar according to red cell size. Patients with microcytic anemia had the lowest hemoglobin levels, yet the best clinical outcomes among anemic patients. MCV from the standard complete blood count adds additional information beyond hemoglobin for targeted intervention.
BACKGROUND: Preoperative anemia, defined by hemoglobin level, is associated with elevated risk after cardiac operation. Better understanding of anemia requires characterization beyond this. This investigation focuses on red cell size and its association with patient characteristics and outcomes after cardiac operation. METHODS: From January 2010 to January 2014, 10,589 patients underwent elective cardiac operations at Cleveland Clinic. Anemia was characterized as normocytic, microcytic, or macrocytic based on mean corpuscular volume (MCV). Models for hospital complications were developed using multivariable logistic regression. Other outcomes were postoperative transfusion and intensive care unit (ICU) and postoperative hospital lengths of stay. RESULTS: A total of 2,715 patients (26%) were anemic. Of these, 2,365 (87%) had normocytic, 219 (8.1%) microcytic, and 131 (4.8%) macrocytic anemia. Non-anemicpatients (n = 2,041, 26%) received transfusions compared with 1,553 (66%) normocytic, 148 (68%) microcytic, and 97 (74%) macrocytic anemiapatients. Patients with normocytic or macrocytic anemia had more renal failure (normocytic: odds ratio (OR) 1.9, macrocytic: OR 3.5), other complications (normocytic: OR 1.3, macrocytic: OR 2.2) and death (normocytic: OR 2.0, macrocytic: OR 6.2) than non-anemicpatients; patients with microcytic anemia had fewer reoperations (OR 0.35) and less postoperative atrial fibrillation (OR 0.50). Anemicpatients experienced longer ICU (27 versus 48 hours, p < 0.001) and postoperative hospital (6.1 versus 7.4 days, p < 0.001) length of stay than non-anemicpatients. CONCLUSIONS: Cardiac surgical patients are often anemic. Demographic characteristics, comorbidities, and outcomes are dissimilar according to red cell size. Patients with microcytic anemia had the lowest hemoglobin levels, yet the best clinical outcomes among anemicpatients. MCV from the standard complete blood count adds additional information beyond hemoglobin for targeted intervention.
Authors: Pierre Tibi; R Scott McClure; Jiapeng Huang; Robert A Baker; David Fitzgerald; C David Mazer; Marc Stone; Danny Chu; Alfred H Stammers; Tim Dickinson; Linda Shore-Lesserson; Victor Ferraris; Scott Firestone; Kalie Kissoon; Susan Moffatt-Bruce Journal: J Extra Corpor Technol Date: 2021-06