Anemia, renal dysfunction and malnutrition associated with heart failure in patients with valvulopathy.

BACKGROUND Valvular disease can course with heart failure (HF), anemia and renal dysfunction (RD), increasing the nutritional risk and worsening patient prognosis. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the prevalence of anemia and RD in patients with valvulopathy with or without HF, as well as establish a correlation with the nutritional status. METHODS A total of 104 patients admitted at the Clinic of Valvulopathy of PROCAPE/UPE, during the period of Aug-Oct/2008. The data were obtained from the nutritional and medical follow-up files. The collected variables were: sex, age, nutritional status according to the body mass index (BMI), presence of HF, anemia and RD. Anemia was considered when hemoglobin values were < 13 g/dl in men and < 12 g/dl in women. RD was established according to the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and it was calculated through the formula proposed by Cockcroft and Gault. RESULTS The prevalence of anemia and RD was 71.1% and 68.8%, and 48.1% and 60.0%, in patients with and without HF, respectively, with a statistically significant difference for anemia (p = 0.022). Of the patients, 48.1% were eutrophic, 26.9% had excess weight and 25.0% presented some degree of malnutrition. The patients with HF presented a higher frequency of low weight (p = 0.020). The nutritional status was not associated with anemia (p = 0.117), but it was associated with RD, with renal function being decreased more often in patients with low weight (p = 0.000). CONCLUSION When the prevalence of malnutrition, anemia and RD was compared between patients with and without HF, it showed statistical significance.