TITLE:
Hospital-Acquired Anaemia Secondary to Phlebotomy in Elderly Patients
AUTHORS:
Divya Tiwari, Caroline Rance
KEYWORDS:
Hospital Induced, Anaemia, Phlebotomy
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Aging Research,
Vol.3 No.2,
April
29,
2014
ABSTRACT: Introduction: Anaemia contributes to increased morbidity and mortality in
hospitalised patients, yet unnecessary blood tests from inpatients may actually
induce a “hospital acquired anaemia” (HAA). This study examines the incidence
of phlebotomy-induced anaemia during a hospital admission. Methods: Patients
admitted to the Royal Bournemouth Hospital between 2009 and 2011 for a period
of more than two weeks were identified. Those with normal haemoglobins on admission
(Hb > 130 g/dL in men; Hb > 120 g/dL in women) were selected to be
included in the study. One hundred and sixty two patients were randomly
selected from this group and their admission and discharge haemoglobin was
recorded, and the change in Hb was calculated. The number of blood tests taken
during admission was calculated from each patient from which volume of blood
lost was determined. Age, sex and co-morbidities, bleeding complications and
blood transfusions were noted. T-test for unequal variance was used for
analysis. Results: Of the 162 patients, 69 (42.5%) developed a HAA (defined as
haemoglobin drop from normal to i.e. 132 mls in the anaemia
group vs. only 80.2 mls in no-anaemia group. Further analysis of the anaemia
group revealed that 40 patients developed a “mild anaemia” (defined as drop in
Hb from normal to