Early hemoglobin status is predictive of outcomes and long-term mortality of sepsis

Abstract Background: Hemoglobin change plays a critical role in progress of sepsis. However, the contribution of hemoglobin change to outcomes of patients with sepsis is still unknown. The aim of our study is to investigate the effect of early hemoglobin level within 48h after admission to Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on long term prognosis for sepsis. Methods: In this single centered, cohort study, we included patients from different ICU departments of Xiangya hospital from 2016 to 2018. Out of 1800 ICU patients, 199 patients with sepsis matched inclusion criteria. All 199 patients were divided into three groups according to 70, 80, and 90 g/L hemoglobin statuses, respectively. Results: Our study showed seventy-nine patients (39.7%) with ≤90g/L hemoglobin, forty-seven patients (23.6%) with hemoglobin ≤80g/L, and twenty-five (12.6%) with hemoglobin ≤70g/L at 48h after admission. Compared to survival group, there were higher rates of patients with hemoglobin ≤80g/L (33.7% vs. 15.1%, P=0.003), hemoglobin ≤70g/L (18.5% vs. 7.5%, P=0.031) in non-survival group, but similar rate of hemoglobin ≤90g/L patients (46.7% vs. 34.0%, P=0.081). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that significant difference occurred among all three groups with total one-year survival rates. Furthermore, multivariate cox proportional hazards regression analysis showed that serum hemoglobin concentration ≤ 80g/L at 48h admission (Hazard Ratio HR 1.736, 95% CI 1.131-2.665, P=0.012), the occurrence of ARDS (HR 1.814, 95% CI 1.184-2.778, P=0.006), the use of CRRT (HR 1.569, 95% CI 1.030-2.390, P=0.036), and septic shock (HR 1.776, 95% CI 1.124-2.804, P=0.014) were independent risk predictors for one-year mortality in septic patients. Whereas the infection site from abdomen (HR 0.281, 95% CI 0.113-0.697, P=0.006) was the only independent protective factor for mortality in septic patients. Conclusion: ≤80 g/L hemoglobin within 48h after admission to ICU was the independent risk factor for mortality for patients with sepsis. Attention should be raised up to target early hemoglobin level in course of sepsis to achieve better outcomes of sepsis. Future larger researches and randomized controlled trials are needed to validate our results.