Anaemia and Long Term Mortality in Heart Failure Patients: a Retrospective Study

Background: Anaemia has been demonstrated as a risk factor in patients with heart failure over periods of a few years, but long term data are not available. We examined the long-term risk of anaemia in heart failure patients during 15 years of follow-up.

Methods: We evaluated survival data for 1518 patients with heart failure randomized into the Danish Investigations of Arrhythmia and Mortality on Dofetilide (DIAMOND) trial. The follow-up time was from 13 to 15 years. After 15 years 11.5% of the patients were still alive.

Results: Anaemia was present in 34% of the patients. 264 (17%) had mild, 152 (10%) had moderate and 98 (7%) had severe anaemia. Hazard ratio of death for patients with mild anaemia compared with patients with no anaemia was 1.27 (1.11-1.45, p<0.001), for moderate anaemia 1.48 (1.24-1.77, p<0.001) and for severe anaemia 1.82 (1.47-2.24, p<0.001), respectively. In multivariable analyses anaemia was still associated with increased mortality with hazard ratios of 1.19 (1.04-1.37, p=0.014) for mild anaemia, 1.23 (1.03-1.48, p=0.024) for moderate anaemia and 1.33 (1.07-1.66, p=0.010) for severe anaemia, respectively. In landmark analysis the increased mortality for mild anaemia was only significant during the first 2 years, while moderate anaemia remained significant for at least 5 years. There were too few patients left with severe anaemia after 5 years to evaluate the importance on mortality beyond this time.

Conclusion: Anaemia at the time of diagnosis of heart failure is an independent factor for mortality during the following years but loses its influence on mortality over time.