Résumé
Background: Anaemia is common in patients admitted with acute myocardial infarction [AMI] and can badly affect the short and long term outcomes. Hospital acquired anaemia [HAA] is a type of anaemia which develops in patients during hospitalization with a normal haemoglobin level at the time of admission. There is very scant data regarding the causes for hospital acquired anaemia. This study was conducted in order to determine the causes and baseline characteristics of low haemoglobin level in AMI
Methods: This descriptive study was performed in Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar from 1[st] June 2013 to 31[st] May 2014. All the patients with AMI having normal baseline haemoglobin level at admission were included. Haemoglobin was rechecked on 5[th] day of admission to see whether patient develops HAA or not
Results: A total of 456 consecutive patients with AMI were screened for low haemoglobin. Low haemoglobin level [haemoglobin 70 years were 12 [14.3%]. hypertensives were 34 [40.5%], diabetics were 24 [28.6%], CKD was seen in 11 [13.1%], dyslipidemia in 17 [20.2%], and smokers were 16 [19%]. Upper GI bleed was found in 23 [27%], lower GI bleed in 7 [8.3%], hematuria in 6 [7.1%], possible coronary intervention in 7 [8.3%], and more than one cause in 14 [16.6%] patients, while no cause was found in 27 [32.14%] patients
Conclusion: One third of patients had no discernible cause of low haemoglobin, while one fourth of patients had isolated upper GI bleed as the main cause for hospital acquired low Hb