Heart Attack Patients At Risk For Anemia

By Author: Dr. Victor Marchione
Total Articles: 90
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Having a heart attack is no small thing. It is definitely a
traumatic, life-changing event that can leave a patient
feeling physically vulnerable. Heart attack patients often
express concern about how much strain the heart should be
subjected to once they are discharged from the hospital. If
you find yourself in this situation or someone you know
does, here is some health news that may be vitally
important to your/their recovery. According to a recent
study performed at the St. Luke's Hospital Mid-America
Heart & Vascular Institute in Kansas City, one in five
patients who are hospitalized for heart attacks develop
anemia, because so much of their blood is drawn for
routine diagnostic tests.

What's even more troublesome is that this anemia often
persists for a month or more after discharge and could
mean worse outcomes -- even death -- down the line. These
patients actually feel worse after they leave the hospital and
rates of mortality are higher, too.

The study authors looked at electronic medical ...
... records for
almost 18,000 patients who'd had a heart attack at one of 57
U.S. hospitals. All the patients had normal hemoglobin
levels when they were admitted. However, 20% developed
moderate-to-severe anemia by the time they left the
hospital.

The researchers determined that the average patient had
173.8 milliliters of blood drawn for testing, or about half a
unit of whole blood. That was about 100 ml higher than the
blood drawn in patients who didn't develop moderate-to-
severe anemia. The researchers calculated that the risk of
anemia rose 18% for each 50 ml of blood drawn. There
were also differences in the amount of blood drawn from
hospital to hospital.

So what is a heart patient to do under these circumstances?
Fortunately, the researchers have a few suggestions that
could help fix the problem. One option would be to use
smaller pediatric tubes to draw the blood rather than adult-
sized tubes. According to the research doctors, pediatric
tubes are perfectly adequate for most of the tests that need
to be done and can drastically reduce the amount of blood
lost. Fewer blood draws also would help. And finally, it
may be possible to use blood already drawn and already in
the lab for subsequent tests.

To complicate matters, less testing could also result in
medical problems. You'll want to get your doctor's advice
when it comes to blood tests. It seems that too many can
have an impact on your health, as can too few.

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