The relationship between anemia at admission and outcome in patients older than 60 years with hip fracture

BACKGROUND: We have reported that the functional outcome in elderly with hip fracture is related to age at admission, dementia, and anemia. In this study, we examined the relationship between hemoglobin level at admission and walking ability, as well as survival outcome at discharge. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We studied 394 patients aged 60 years or older treated at our hospital for hip fracture since 1997. Anemia was defined as an admission hemoglobin level <13.0 g/dl for men and <12.0 g/dl for women. The relationships between anemia status with age at admission, gender, fracture type, residence before injury, walking ability at discharge, length of hospital stay, and survival outcome were analyzed. RESULTS: Anemia was observed in 266 of 394 patients. Univariate analysis identified no relationship between the status of anemia and age, gender, walking ability before injury, treatment modality, or length of hospital stay. On the other hand, 106 of 266 patients in the anemic group were residing in institutions, and as many as 72.9% of patients in the anemic group had trochanteric fracture. For walking ability at discharge, 92 of 128 patients without anemia were ambulatory compared with only 130 of 266 patients with anemia, with a significant difference between the two groups. Furthermore, there were 15 in-hospital deaths in the anemic group compared with one death in the nonanemic group. Multivariate analysis identified three independent items: age, fracture type, and walking ability at discharge, as related to the status of anemia. CONCLUSIONS: Hemoglobin level at admission is related to outcome in patients with hip fracture.