Association of anemia with mortality in young adult patients with intracerebral hemorrhage

This study aimed to examine the association of hemoglobin concentration with a 90-day mortality of young adult patients with ICH in a large retrospective cohort. A retrospective observational study was conducted between December 2013 and June 2019 in two tertiary academic medical centers in China. We defined patients with hemoglobin concentration < 80 g/L as severe anemia and 80–120/130 g/L as mild to moderate anemia. We also defined patients with hemoglobin concentration > 160 g/L as high hemoglobin. Associations of hemoglobin and outcomes were evaluated in multivariable regression analyses. The primary outcome was mortality at 90 days. We identified 4098 patients with ICH who met the inclusion criteria. After adjusting primary confounding variables, the 90-day mortality rate was significantly higher in young patients with severe anemia (OR, 39.65; 95% CI 15.42–101.97), moderate anemia (OR, 2.49; 95% CI 1.24–5.00), mild anemia (OR, 1.89; 95% CI 1.20–2.98), and high hemoglobin (OR, 2.03; 95% CI 1.26–3.26) group than in young patients of the normal group. The younger age was associated with a higher risk of death from anemia in patients with ICH (P for interaction = 0.01). In young adult patients with ICH, hemoglobin concentration was associated with 90-day mortality, and even mild to moderate anemia correlated with higher mortality. We also found that in ICH patients with anemia, younger age was associated with higher risk.