MURAT ÖZMEN
Journal of Updates in Cardiovascular Medicine - 2025;13(2):72-80
Objectives Anemia is a common condition in heart failure (HF) patients and is associated with poor functional capacity and increased mortality and morbidity rates. However, the effect of different types of anemia on HF has not been adequately investigated in the literature In this study, we tried to determine the rate of iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and non-IDA of anemia of chronic disease (ACD) in HF patients followed in our clinic and discuss its effect on mortality. Materials and Methods Heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) who were admitted to the cardiology outpatient clinic between January 2021 and June 2021 were included in this study. Laboratory parameters, demographic characteristics, and clinical and echocardiographic data of the patients were examined retrospectively. RESULTS A total of 521 patients were included in our study. The average age of the patients was 67±13 years. 70.6% of the patients are men. Mortality was observed to be statistically higher in the combination of HFrEF and IDA, than in the non-iron deficiency ACD groups. Cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular comorbidities were reported more frequently in the non-iron deficiency ACD group and were more particularly common in the chronic kidney disease ACD group. Statistical differences were observed in levels of serum iron metabolism parameters between IDA and ACD. Mortality rates among HFrEF patients with anemia during the total follow-up period were found to be higher than those in patients without anemia, as reported in the literature. CONCLUSION Mortality was observed to be quite high during the follow-up period in patients diagnosed with HFrEF and accompanied by ACD or IDA. The negative effects of IDA on mortality and prognosis in HF patients are well known. There are many causes of anemia in HF, although current studies and guidelines focus more on iron deficiency and IDA. In our study, iron deficiency without anemia in HF patients was shown to be an independent predictive factor for mortality.
