Higher hemoglobin levels are associated with better outcome in intracerebral hemorrhage. Further research is needed to evaluate admission hemoglobin levels as both a therapeutic target and predictor of outcome.

Our exposure of interest was admission hemoglobin levels and the primary outcome was 3-month postintracerebral hemorrhage-dichotomized modified Rankin Scale (0–3 vs 4–6). Intermediate outcomes were admission hematoma volume and hematoma expansion defined as 6 mL or 33% increase in hemorrhage size on repeat CT.

A total of 4,172 intracerebral hemorrhage patients were included in the study (mean age 63 [sd = 14]; female sex 1,668 [40%]).

Each additional g/dL of admission hemoglobin was associated with 14% (odds ratio, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.82–0.91) and 7% (odds ratio, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.88–0.98) reductions in the risk of poor outcome in unadjusted and adjusted analyses, respectively.

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