Evaluation of the usefulness of non-invasive serum haemoglobin measurement in a perioperative setting in a prospective observational study
Gabriel Honnef, Daniel Auinger, Michael Eichinger, Michael Eichlseder, Philipp Metnitz, Martin Rief, Paul Zajic, Philipp Zoidl, Helmar Bornemann‐Cimenti
Abstract
Abstract Patient Blood Management (PBM) programmes seek to reduce the number of missed anaemic patients in the run-up to surgery. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of haemoglobin (Hb) measured non-invasively (SpHb) in preoperative screening for anaemia. We conducted a prospective observational study in a preoperative clinic. Adult patients undergoing examination for surgery who had their Hb measured by laboratory means also had their Hb measured non-invasively by a trained health care provider. 1216 patients were recruited. A total of 109 (9.3%) patients (53 men and 56 women) was found to be anaemic by standard laboratory Hb measurement. Sensitivity for SpHb to detect anaemic patients was 0.50 (95% CI 0.37–0.63) in women and 0.30 (95% CI 0.18–0.43) in men. Specificity was 0.97 (95% CI 0.95–0.98) in men and 0.93 (95% CI 0.84–1.0) in women. The rate of correctly classified patients was 84.7% for men and 89.4% for women. Positive predictive value for SpHb was 0.50 (95% CI 0.35–0.65) in men and 0.40 (95% CI 0.31–0.50) in women; negative predictive value was 0.93 (95% CI 0.92–0.94) in men and 0.95 (95% CI 0.94–0.96) in women. We conclude that due to low sensitivity, SpHb is poorly suitable for detecting preoperative anaemia in both sexes under standard of care conditions.