Assesment of the Prevalence and Impact of Anemia on Women Hospitalized for Gynecologic Conditions Associated with Heavy Uterine Bleeding.

Objective: Women with heavy uterine bleeding often are untreated or inadequately treated for anemia. This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence and impact of anemia in women hospitalized for gynecologic conditions associated with heavy uterine bleeding.

Study Design: The largest all-payer inpatient care database, the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project’s 2003 Nationwide Inpatient Sample, was queried using ICD-9-CM codes to identify and group cases with gynecologic diagnoses associated with heavy uterine bleeding into two categories: with or without anemia. Groups were evaluated for demographic characteristics, medical resource utilization, and hospitalization costs using descriptive statistics.

Results: More than 25 percent of the estimated 300,589 women in the study had a diagnosis of anemia. Compared to patients without an anemia diagnosis, those with an anemia diagnosis were more likely to have a blood transfusion (24% versus 0.7%, p<0.0001); an emergency department admission (26.8% versus 3.2%, p<0.0001); and higher hospitalization costs ($5,631 versus $5,101, p<0.0001).

Conclusions: Anemia and blood transfusions are common in women hospitalized for gynecologic conditions associated with heavy uterine bleeding. Greater patient and provider awareness of the prevalence and burden associated with anemia may increase opportunities to reduce blood transfusions and improve general health status and quality of life in this patient population.