Anemia and formation of deep vein thrombosis before operation in patients with knee osteoarthritis: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Preoperative anemia is a common complication in knee osteoarthritis (KOA) patients. However, the association between anemia and preoperative deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in osteoarthritis patients remains unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate such association. METHODS: In this retrospective study, we included 1005 KOA patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in our hospital. According to preoperative hemoglobin levels, the patients were divided into anemia group and non-anemia group. According to the results of Doppler ultrasonography for the lower extremities, the patients were divided into DVT group and non-DVT group. A logistic model was established through propensity score matching (PSM), with anemia before TKA as the dependent variable, DVT-related variable as the covariate, and 0.03 as the Caliper value. The anemia group and non-anemia group were matched at a 1:1 ratio and 310 successfully matched. After matching, logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between preoperative anemia and DVT in KOA patients. RESULTS: In this study, 342 cases (33.6%) had preoperative anemia and 73 cases (7.2%) had DVT before TKA. After matching, 46 DVT cases (7.42%) were found. By using binary logistic regression after PSM, we found that the risk for preoperative DVT formation in TKA patients with preoperative anemia increased by 1.97 times [95% (CI 1.05–3.69)], P = 0.035. CONCLUSION: Preoperative anemia is considered as an independent risk factor for the formation of preoperative DVT in KOA patients. Trial registration: ChiCRT2100054844.