title: Approach to Anemia in Hospitalized Patients with Infectious Diseases; Is it Appropriate?
abstract: Anemia of chronic diseases (ACD) is a common problem in patients with infectious diseases and can influence the quality of life and patients' survival. Despite the clinical importance of ACD, data are still lacking regarding this problem in the infectious diseases. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence, related factors, outcome and approaches to anemia in the infectious diseases ward. This retrospective study was performed to review the medical records of patients admitted to the infectious diseases department of Imam Khomeini hospital during a two-year period between 2009 and 2011. A standard protocol was developed to evaluate anemia. Patients' demographic data approaches to manage anemia and routine laboratory tests were recorded and compared with the protocol. Totally, 1,120 medical records were reviewed. ACD was recognized in 705 patients (63%). Only 5.1% of diagnostic and 8.7% of treatment approaches was based on the protocol. The majority of patients (89.4%) were received inappropriate treatment regarding. Mortality rate of patients with ACD was 3.4%. Moreover, a significant correlation between anemia and mortality was detected (r = 0.131; p = 0.026). A statistically significant correlation was also identified between patients' Hgb and ESR, CRP, reasons of admission, number of medications, and underlying diseases. In conclusion, results of this study suggested that ACD is a common problem in infectious diseases patients and significantly associated with patients' mortality. Moreover, the majority of studied patients were not received an appropriate diagnostic and treatment approach which arises more concerns regarding the management of ACD in infectious diseases setting.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Taher
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Entezari-Maleki
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Khalili
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Iman
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Karimzadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Sirous
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jafari
keywords: Anemia of chronic disease; Infectious diseases; Mortality; Prevalence