What's Dangerously Low?

[Irishgirl]

How low of a Hemoglobin is life threatening? I saw a patient who had 8.5 and doesn't want to go to the ER for it...For an anemic person, how fast does Hgb drop? I'm going to worry all weekend about this guy.

[tridil2000, MSN, RN]

How low of a Hemoglobin is life threatening? I saw a patient who had 8.5 and doesn't want to go to the ER for it...For an anemic person, how fast does Hgb drop? I'm going to worry all weekend about this guy.

the blood bank usually doesn't even 'release' packed cells for a hg above 8 unless the pt is symptomatic.

was he?

8.5 isn't low for someone with anemia. they should be on iron of course.

[ERNurse752, RN]

Hgb of 8.5 itself isn't life threatening. We don't usually give blood til 7-8. How fast it drops depends on where the bleeding is coming from, if they are bleeding, or what the underlying cause is. I've seen as low as 3...this person had a slow, chronic bleed, so was actually doing OK, all things considered!

So, that also goes into how low is life threatening...just depends on a lot of different things.

[wooh, BSN, RN]

As with most lab values, it's not how high or low but how fast it got there. If it's been low for a while, their body is used to it, so it's not as critical.