Anemia as a Prognostic Marker in Patients with COPD

More than one-third of patients hospitalized for acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have anemia, which is associated with an increased risk of 1-year readmission and mortality, as per findings of a study recently published in the European Clinical Respiratory Journal.1

This study was conducted with 1525 patients who had been hospitalized with the first episode of acute exacerbation of COPD in Denmark hospitals in 2018. The mean age of the participants was 74 years with women comprising the majority (56.1%) of the study group. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of anemia and polycythemia in these patients and to ascertain their impact on prognosis at one year assessed by the risks of readmission and mortality. Based on the hemoglobin levels, the study subjects were categorized into three groups: normemic or normal hemoglobin (13-17 g/dL in men and 12-15 g/dL in women), anemia (<13 g/dL in men and (<12 g/dL in women), and polycythemia (>17 g/dL in men and >15 g/dL in women).

Retrospective analysis of data revealed the prevalence of polycythemia to be ~7%, 35.2% were found to have anemia, while 58.0% had normal hemoglobin levels. The risk of re-hospitalization at one year was increased by 24% with adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) of 1.24, while the mortality risk rose by 60% (aHR 1.60). No such association was observed among patients with polycythemia.

Hence, anemia could be a predictor of readmission and mortality in patients with acute exacerbations of COPD.

Reference

 Eur Clin Respir J. 2025 Aug 23;12(1):2546672. doi: 10.1080/20018525.2025.2546672.