Qom University of Medical Sciences Journal

Background and Objectives Immunosuppression is regarded among the risk factors for bacterial infection. But in recent studies, anemia was considered a predisposing factor for bacterial infections. The main goals of this study was to assess the rate of anemia in hospitalized patients with acute bacterial infection and to determine the relationship between anemia and bacterial infection as a predisposing factor.   Methods 311 hospitalized patients whose bacterial infection was well documented based on the files present in Kamkar, Arabnia, Fatemi, and Sahamieh hospitals in Qom, Iran, were selected for the present study. They were categorized into various age groups from newborns to the elderly. The data included, age, sex, Hb of the patients the first, third and discharge day, HCT in the first, third and discharge day, MCV, MCH, MCHC, WBC in the first, third, fourth day, Diff in the first and fourth days, ESR, CRP, maximum of fever and disease, chronic disease, smoking. A P<0.05 was considered as being significant.   Results On the basis of hemoglobin rate, 43.9 % of patients had anemia as a co-disease. There was no anemia among newborns, but 57% of infants had it. Patients who had pyorrheal lymphadenitis had maximum rate of anemia among other patients.   Conclusion On the average, the rate of anemia in this study was 2.1 times more than that of general population in Qom, as well as in any of the age groups. This difference indicates that anemia rate in patients with acute bacterial infections is more common than general population. However, more studies are needed for the assessment of the relationship between anemia and bacterial infection as a predisposing factor. But it seems that the hemoglobin level and severity of disease have direct effects on each other