Hemoglobin levels and new-onset heart failure in the community

Abstract

Background In established cardiovascular disease and heart failure (HF), low hemoglobin levels are associated with unfavorable outcome.Whether hemoglobin levels are associated with the development of new-onset HF in the population is unclear. This study sought to investigate the relationship between hemoglobin levels and development of new-onset HF in the community. Methods In 6,744 patients from PREVEND, a prospective, community-based, cohort study, we analyzed the relationship between hemoglobin levels and the risk of new-onset HF. Results Mean age (±SD) was 53 ± 12 years, 49.8% was male, and mean hemoglobin level was 13.7 ± 1.2 g/dL. During a median follow-up of 8.3 years (interquartile range 7.8-8.9), 217 subjects (3.2%) were newly diagnosed with HF. The association between hemoglobin levels and the risk for new-onset HF was U shaped (Pb .001), remaining significant after full adjustment in a multivariablemodelwith established cardiovascular risk factors (P= .015). Furthermore, a increased annual HF incidencewas already observed in subjects with high-normal hemoglobin levels (men N16 g/dL or women N15 g/dL; P= .041), whereas on the other side of the distribution, only severe anemia (men b11 g/dL or women b10 g/dL; P= .018) was associated with a higher annual incidence. Conclusions The impact of hemoglobin level on the risk of new-onset HF in the community is best described as U shaped. Interestingly, higher hemoglobin levels, already within the high-reference range, are associated with an increased incidence. This in contrast to anemia, where a higher annualHF incidence was only observed for severe anemia.