Anemia in liver transplant recipients: prevalence, severity, risk factors, and survival

Abstract

Information about anemia in liver transplant (LTx) recipients is scarce. We investigated the prevalence and severity of anemia before and within the first‐year post‐LTx, risk factors for having anemia before LTx, and 1‐year survival according to anemia status before LTx. This retrospective cohort study received data from The Knowledge Center for Transplantation database at Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark. Uni‐ and multivariate logistic regression were used to investigate factors associated with anemia and a Kaplan–Meier plot to illustrate the probability of survival. We included 346 first‐time adult LTx recipients. The median age was 50 years (IQR: 42–57), and 203 (59%) were male. The prevalence of anemia before and 1‐year post‐LTx were 69 and 45%, respectively. Male sex (aOR 4.0 [95% CI: 2.2–7.2]; p < 0.001) and each unit increase in MELD score (aOR 1.2 [95% CI: 1.1–1.2]; p < 0.001) were positively associated with anemia before LTx. Compared to autoimmune liver diseases, LTx recipients with fulminant hepatic failure (aOR 0.03 [0.00–0.17]; p = 0.001) had lower odds for anemia. The 1‐year survival in LTx recipients who had and did not have anemia before transplantation were 93 and 91% (p = 0.47). Anemia was frequent among LTx recipients, and anemia before LTx did not affect 1‐year survival.