Reducing risk of anemia

Taking less blood from acute-MI patients for diagnostic tests may improve patient outcomes by reducing the risk of hospital-acquired anemia, a new study published online August 8, 2011 in the Archives of Internal Medicine suggests [1]. Multiple studies have shown that hospital-acquired anemia is associated with greater mortality and worse health status in patients with acute MI, but the relationship between diagnostic phlebotomy and the risk of hospital-acquired anemia had not been rigorously studied in this population, according to Dr Adam Salisbury (Saint Luke’s Mid-America Heart and Vascular Institute, Kansas City, MO) and colleagues. Salisbury and colleagues analyzed records from 57 centers from in the Cerner Health Facts electronic medical records database. This database was ideal for studying the link between phlebotomy and hospital-acquired anemia because it contains detailed information on patients’ laboratory tests and patients’ hemoglobin levels across a variety of hospitals.