The association between anemia and the mortality of severe traumatic brain injury in emergency department.

BACKGROUND: Anemia is a common medical problem for critically ill patients. Blood transfusion to augment oxygen delivery for these patients has been a traditional therapy. However, few studies have identified the impact of anemia on individuals suffering from severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Hence, this study aims to evaluate the effects of initial anemia on patients with severe TBI admitted to the Emergency Unit.

METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of patients with isolated severe TBI admitted to the Emergency Unit of a university hospital from July 2003 to June 2008. Patients were divided into two groups based on their initial anemia data taken while in the Emergency Unit. The anemia datum is defined as hemoglobin (Hb) <10 mg/dL. The t test was used to identify the differences between the two groups, while logistic regression was applied to determine any significant differences found in the statistical analysis.

RESULTS: A total of 234 patients were signed up in our study. Based on their initial hemoglobin at emergency department, 23 patients (9.8%) comprised the anemia group, 17 patients (7.3%) comprised the nonanemia group, whereas 112 patients (47.9%) belonging to the nonanemia group were deceased. There is no significant difference between the two groups (p = 0.076; odds ratio, 0.97; confidence interval, 0.78-1.05).

CONCLUSION: This study shows that initial anemia is not a mortality risk factor for patients with isolated severe blunt TBI.