Crooks CJ, West J, Morling JR, Simmonds M, Juurlink I, Briggs S, Cruickshank S, Hammond-Pears S, Shaw D, Card TR, Fogarty AW. Anaemia of acute inflammation: a higher acute systemic inflammatory response is associated with a larger decrease in blood haemoglobin levels in patients with COVID-19 infection.
Clin Med (Lond) 2023;
23:201-205. [PMID:
37197805 PMCID:
PMC11046552 DOI:
10.7861/clinmed.2022-0436]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
AIMS
The study tests the hypothesis that a higher acute systemic inflammatory response was associated with a larger decrease in blood hemoglobin levels in patients with Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) infection.
METHODS
All patients with either suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection admitted to a busy UK hospital from February 2020 to December 2021 provided data for analysis. The exposure of interest was maximal serum C-reactive protein (CRP) level after COVID-19 during the same admission.
RESULTS
A maximal serum CRP >175mg/L was associated with a decrease in blood haemoglobin (-5.0 g/L, 95% confidence interval: -5.9 to -4.2) after adjustment for covariates, including the number of times blood was drawn for analysis.Clinically, for a 55-year-old male patient with a maximum haemoglobin of 150 g/L who was admitted for a 28-day admission, a peak CRP >175 mg/L would be associated with an 11 g/L decrease in blood haemoglobin, compared with only 6 g/L if the maximal CRP was <4 mg/L.
CONCLUSIONS
A higher acute systemic inflammatory response is associated with larger decreases in blood haemoglobin levels in patients with COVID-19. This represents an example of anaemia of acute inflammation, and a potential mechanism by which severe disease can increase morbidity and mortality.
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