Relationship of anemia with COVID-19 deaths: A retrospective cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

With the second wave of COVID-19, India lost close to three lakh people within the span of a few months. In this study, we aimed to investigate the impact of anemia on the severity of COVID-19 based on the hemoglobin (Hb) concentration of the patients noted at the time of admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), to mark Hb as a prognostic marker of disease severity for the future.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Retrospective data was collected from 784 patients admitted to the COVID adult ICU between March and June 2021. Patients were identified as anemic and non-anemic based on the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. Chi-squared test was applied to see the relationship of anemia with the patient deaths.

RESULTS

Among the 784 patients, 507 succumbed to COVID-19. Of these, 49.3% had varying degrees of anemia. Significant correlation of anemia with death due to COVID-19 was found in males and females (P = 0.002106 and P = 0.033071, respectively) and in patients without any other comorbidities except anemia (P = 0.002020). This suggests that anemia is independently an important parameter that plays a role in severity of COVID-19.

CONCLUSION

Upon observing a significant correlation between anemia and COVID-19 severity, it can be stated that anemia should be considered as an independent prognostic risk factor for COVID-19 and that hemoglobin can be used for risk stratification in patients under home or hospital care.