In‐hospital mortality in SARS‐CoV‐2 stratified by hemoglobin levels: A retrospective study
Mohammed Al‐Jarallah, Rajesh Rajan, Ahmad Al Saber, Jiazhu Pan, Ahmad T. Al‐Sultan, Hassan Abdelnaby, Moudhi Alroomi, Raja Dashti, Wael Aboelhassan, Farah Almutairi, Mohammed Abdullah, Naser Alotaibi, Mohammad Al Saleh, Noor AlNasrallah, Bader Al‐Bader, Haya Malhas, Maryam Ramadhan, Mahdy Hamza, Kobalava D. Zhanna
Abstract
Abstract This study is to estimate in‐hospital mortality in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) patients stratified by hemoglobin (Hb) level. Patients were stratified according to hemoglobin level into two groups, that is, Hb <100 g/L and Hb >100 g/L. A total of 6931 patients were included. Of these, 6377 (92%) patients had hemoglobin levels >100 g/L. The mean age was 44 ± 17 years, and 66% of the patients were males. The median length of overall hospital stay was 13 days [2; 31]. The remaining 554 (8%) patients had a hemoglobin level <100 g/L. Overall mortality was 176 patients (2.54%) but was significantly higher in the group with hemoglobin levels <100 g/L (124, 22.4%) than in the group with hemoglobin levels >100 g/L (52, 0.82%). Risk factors associated with increased mortality were determined by multivariate analysis. The Kaplan‐Meier survival analysis showed hemoglobin as a predictor of mortality. Cox proportional hazards regression coefficients for hemoglobin for the HB ≤ 100 category of hemoglobin were significant, B = 2.79, SE = 0.17, and HR = 16.34, p < 0.001. Multivariate logistic regression showed Hb < 100 g/L had a higher cumulative all‐cause in‐hospital mortality (22.4% vs. 0.8%; adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.33; 95% [CI]: [0.20–0.55]; p < 0.001). In this study, hemoglobin levels <100 g/L were found to be an independent predictor of in‐hospital mortality.