ObjectiveTo determine the prevalence of anemia in a group of hospitalized patients and to characterize these patients with anemia in the ICU, gynecology, internal medicine, traumatology and other surgical specialties other than orthopedics and gynecology. Materials and methodsThis is a retrospective observational descriptive study in 373 patients discharged from the University Hospital of San José in the city of Popayán, from July to December 2015, obtained through a survey. The database was analyzed using the XLSTAT 2016 statistical software. All study documents were evaluated and approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee. Results373 patients were included, 39.7% were women, with a mean age of 54±19 years. The overall prevalence of anemia at hospitalization was 38.8% and at discharge was 53.8%. The most common anemia was normochromic, normocytic. The most common diagnosis of discharge was the infections in 27%, traumas 23% and other diagnoses 27%. The prevalence of anemia in patients with prolonged hospital stay was 73% with a p=0.035 compared to patients with no prolonged stay, and on the other hand, the mortality in patients with anemia was 16.4 vs. 11% in patients without anemia. DiscussionIn the hospitalized patient according to the reviewed literature the most common anemia is associated with nutritional deficits and chronic diseases. Finding in the study an increase in the hospital days of the stay, and the tendency to increase the mortality in patient with anemia.