Journal of hospital medicine : an official publication of the Society of Hospital Medicine
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A patient's supine posture redistributes plasma into the vascular space, leading to dilution of blood constituents. The extent to which posture may influence identification of hospital-acquired anemia is unknown. Patients in this quasi-experimental study had blood obtained for hemoglobin measurement while recumbent for at least 6 hours, and then again after sitting upright for at least 1 hour. ⋯ Patients had a median increase in hemoglobin of 0.60 g/dL (range, -0.6 to 1.4 g/dL) with sitting, a 5.2% (range, (-4.5% to 15.1%) relative change (P < .001). Ten of 35 patients (29%) exhibited an increase in hemoglobin of 1.0 g/dL or more. Posture influences hemoglobin levels in hospitalized patients on general medicine wards; this knowledge may help curb unnecessary testing to evaluate small changes in hemoglobin concentration.
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Editorial Comment
Hospital-Level Variability in Outcomes of Patients With COVID-19.