Cerebral venous thrombosis: anaemia at admission tied to poor clinical outcomes

Takeaway

• Admission anaemia was an independent predictor of poor clinical outcome in patients with cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT).

Why this matters

• Findings warrant further studies to determine whether a causal relationship underlies this association and whether increasing haemoglobin levels improves clinical outcome.

Study design

• Study evaluated the association between anaemia and poor clinical outcomes in 952 patients with CVT.
• Definition of anaemia was made according to World Health Organization criteria.
• Poor clinical outcomes (modified Rankin Scale [mRS] score, 3-6), mortality and mRS 0-1 were evaluated.
• Funding: None disclosed.

Key results

• Of 874 patients with CVT, 22% had anaemia at admission.
• Compared with patients without anaemia, those with anaemia more often had:
  • history of cancer (17% vs 7%; P<.001),
  • reported coma (11% vs 5%; P=.001) and
  • non-haemorrhagic parenchymal lesions (44% vs 30%; P<.001).
• Poor clinical outcome (21% vs 11%; P<.001) and mortality (11% vs 6%; P=.07) were frequently reported in patients with anaemia.
• After adjusting potential confounders, patients with anaemia at admission were at an increased risk for poor outcome (OR, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.2-3.2) and mortality (OR, 1.4; 95% CI, 0.7-2.9).

Limitations

• Exclusion 8% patients with CVT because of missing baseline haemoglobin data.
• Retrospective design.