Anemia is one of the most frequent co-morbidities in the patients with heart failure.
Its prevalence increases from 4-7% in the subjects with asymptomatic left ventricular dysfunction
to >30% in the patients with severe heart failure. Renal insufficiency, activation of inflammatory
mediators, and treatment with renin-angiotensin antagonists seem to be its main determinants.
The results of many studies agree in showing that anemia is a powerful independent determinant
of survival in patients with heart failure. However, the mechanisms of this relation are
still incompletely understood. Moreover a favourable effect on prognosis of the correction of
anemia has not been shown, yet, and also controlled studies assessing its effects on exercise
tolerance have yielded controversial results. (Heart International 2007; 3: 1-11)
Anemia, Heart failure, Prognosis, Erythropoietin
Prof. Marco Metra, Section of Cardiovascular Diseases, Dept. Of Experimental and Applied Medicine, University of Brescia c/o Spedali Civili, P.zza Spedali Civili, 1, 25123 Brescia – Italy, metramarco@libero.it

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