in Critically Ill Patients

for the ABC Investigators ANEMIA IS A COMMON PROBLEMin critically ill patients admit-ted to intensive care units(ICUs).1 Deleterious effects of anemia include increased risk of cardiac-related morbidity2 and mortality,2,3 as well as a generalized decrease in oxygen-carrying capacity. Consequences of ane-mia may be compounded in this popu-lation since critical illness often increases metabolic demands. Among the many causes of anemia in the critically ill, some of the most im-portant are sepsis,4 overt or occult blood loss (including frequent blood sam-pling5), decreased production of endog-enous erythropoietin, and immune