Background: Admitted patients with anemia are at increased morbidity and mortality risk as well as length of hospital stay. It affects more than 2 billion people worldwide and is causing significant morbidity and mortality. Its etiology is varying with many predisposing factors including nutritional deficiencies, infections, Malignancies, chronic inflammations and other chronic diseases like autoimmune diseases, chronic liver disease, and chronic kidney disease. Methods: We performed a non-randomized, prospective observational study of 143 patients admitted in Internal Medicine between March and April 2021, we assessed their hemoglobin level in order to determine the prevalence of anemia. The demographic and clinical data were collected using a designed questionnaire. All patients found to have anemia were followed for outcome assessment (either discharge or died). Results: The prevalence of anemia was high (52.4%) among 143 admitted patients in Internal Medicine, CHUK. Patients with HIV, cancer and chronic kidney disease had 5.84-, 4.11- and 3.79-times risk of having anemia respectively. In 75 patients who had anemia 10 patients died among them 5 patients were having severe anemia; 25 patients were 60 years old and above; 60 patients had normocytic anemia and they had an average of length of hospital stay of 20.6 days, patients with severe anemia, length of hospital stay was 28 days. Conclusion: This study demonstrated a high prevalence of anemia which is associated with high mortality rate among admitted patients in CHUK. Priority should be given to the preventive medicine, optimal management of chronic disease and geriatric medicine.

Background: Admitted patients with anemia are at increased morbidity and mortality risk as well as length of hospital stay. To the best of our knowledge, there is no study done in Rwanda assessing the prevalence of anemia and admission outcome among admitted patients and few studies are done in sub-Sahara Africa. We aimed to determine the prevalence of anemia in admitted patients but also their length of hospital stay and mortality risk in anemic patients compared to non-anemic patients. Method: We recruited 143patients at University Teaching Hospital of Kigali between March and April 2021 and follow them up until discharge. Sociodemographic and clinical information was collected for all eligible patients. The associations were tested using chi-square tests. The outcome variable (anemia) was cross tabulated with all factors associated with anemia. Results: The Prevalence of anemia was 52.4% among 143 enrolled patients and the majority had Normocytic anemia with 41.9%. Hypertension and Diabetes were the most common comorbidities found in 50 (35%) and 37 (25.9%) of respondents respectively. CKD (OR 12.108, p0.001), Cancer (OR 10.488; p 0.027) and HIV/AIDS had higher odds of developing anemia. Mortality rate was 13.3 % in all participants but the mean Hemoglobin of patients who died was lower compared to the mean hemoglobin of patients who were discharged alive with 11.4±4.1g/dL and 12±3.3 g/dL respectively (P-value 0.551). Patients with severe anemia were 4 times more likely to die while mild and moderate anemia did not significantly impact the likelihood of death compared to patients with normal Hemoglobin. Hemoglobin level correlates with the length of hospital stay as the lower the hemoglobin level, the longer the hospital stay was (P-value 0.010). Conclusion: Anemia is prevalent among in-patients at CHUK patients with CKD, cancers, and HIV/AIDS as leading predisposing factors. Patients with anemia are at increased risk of mortality and longer length of hospital stay compared to those with normal hemoglobin level.

Background: Admitted patients with anemia are at increased morbidity and mortality risk, as well as length of hospital stay. It affects more than 2 billion people worldwide and is causing significant morbidity and mortality. Its etiology is variable, with many predisposing factors including nutritional deficiencies, infections, malignancies, chronic inflammations, and other chronic diseases like autoimmune diseases, chronic liver disease, and chronic kidney disease. Methods: We performed a non-randomized, prospective observational study of 143 patients admitted to internal medicine between March and April 2021 and assessed their hemoglobin level in order to determine the prevalence of anemia. The demographic and clinical data were collected using a specially designed questionnaire. All patients found to have anemia were followed for outcome assessment (either discharge or death). Results: The prevalence of anemia was high (52.4%) among the 143 admitted patients in internal medicine at CHUK. Patients with HIV, cancer, and chronic kidney disease had a 5.84-, 4.11-, and 3.79-times higher risk of having anemia, respectively. In 75 patients who had anemia, 10 patients died; among them, 5 patients had severe anemia; 25 patients were 60 years old and above; 60 patients had normocytic anemia, and they had an average length of hospital stay of 20.6 days; for patients with severe anemia, the length of hospital stay was 28 days. Conclusion: This study demonstrated a high prevalence of anemia, which is associated with a high mortality rate among admitted patients in CHUK. Priority should be given to preventive medicine, optimal management of chronic disease, and geriatric medicine. Doi: 10.28991/SciMedJ-2022-04-02-05 Full Text: PDF