MATERIAL AND METHODS
The Anemia in patients with AHF study (ANEM-AHF) is a secondary analysis
of the Epidemiology of Acute Heart Failure in Emergency Departments
(EAHFE) registry. The EAHFE registry was initiated in 2007 and each 2-3
years consecutively includes all the patients diagnosed with AHF
attended in HEDs in the participating centers during a 2-3 month period.
To date, 5 inclusion phases have been carried out (2007, 2009, 2011,
2014 and 2016) by 41 Spanish HEDs which have included a total of 13,791
patients. The methodology has been described in previous
publications20,21.
The EAHFE registry is a multicenter, multipurpose, non interventional,
observational study with prospective follow-up of the cohorts of
patients diagnosed with AHF in HEDs. The diagnosis of AHF was made
according to the criteria of the guidelines of the European Society of
Cardiology (ESC) prevailing at patient
recruitment22,
together with the Framingham criteria, and natriuretic peptides and/or
echocardiography, in cases in which these were available. Prior to the
inclusion period the physicians in the participating HEDs received
specific training by the principal investigator of each center on the
registry and the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Later, the principal
investigator of each HED reviewed and revised the diagnosis of each
patient included and was responsible for the final diagnosis and
definitive inclusion of the patient in the study. The only exclusion
criterium was having a principal diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome
with ST elevation with later development of AHF.
Some of the variables were collected retrospectively with information
from the clinical history as well as the anamnesis made during study in
the HED. The variables related to the acute episode were collected
prospectively as well as those of the follow-up which was made by
telephone and consultation of the clinical histories in the hospital and
primary care offices between 30 and 60 days after inclusion and at one
year.