Abstract 4145056: A Comparison of Outcomes in Heart Failure Patients with and without Iron Deficiency Anemia: A National Database Analysis

Introduction: Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) affects millions of people with heart failure (HF) and is of a higher proportion in patients admitted for HF than those seen as an outpatient. The cause of IDA in patients with HF is postulated to be related to the chronic inflammatory process that occurs resulting in decreased erythropoiesis. This could also be a side effect of the extensive treatment. The fate of patients admitted for exacerbation of heart failure, especially those with IDA could be fatal. This study uses the NIS HCUP database to assess the outcome of patients admitted from 2016 to 2019 with heart failure and co-existing iron deficiency anemia. Research question/ hypothesis: Patients with HF and co-existing IDA have worse outcomes than those without. Method: We used the NIS HCUP 2016 to 2019 database for the analysis. The primary outcome was inpatient mortality. Secondary outcomes such as mean length of hospitalization (LOS), mean total hospital charges (THC) adjusted for inflation and proportion of complications were computed. Data was analyzed using regression models adjusted for significant, confounding, sociodemographic and comorbid conditions. Discussion/ Results:: The total population of hospitalizations for HF from 2016 to 2019 was 1270784 with 6.9% having IDA. A higher proportion of hospitalizations with IDA were women. The mortality from the HF admission was 39350 patients. IDA was associated with lower adjusted odds of inpatient mortality (2.5 vs 3.2%, aOR: 0.75, 95% confidence interval (CI) of 0.68-0.84. However, patients with IDA had significantly longer mean LOS and higher THC compared to patients without IDA. Patients with IDA also had increased adjusted odds or requiring pressors, developing acute kidney failure and respiratory failure. Conclusion:: Although IDA did not appear to impact mortality in patients with HF, it was associated with higher inpatient complications and higher healthcare cost utilization. Researchers postulate that limitation of different codes being used when data is recorded could have contributed to the unimpacted mortality. Further studies are needed to decipher other factors. Addressing comorbid IDA in the outpatient setting may significantly decrease the cost associated with hospitalization for HF by decreasing the length of hospitalization and the hospital charges associated with those hospitalizations.