Published online Jul 6, 2016. doi: 10.5527/wjn.v5.i4.358
Peer-review started: February 22, 2016
First decision: March 25, 2016
Revised: April 1, 2016
Accepted: May 10, 2016
Article in press: May 11, 2016
Published online: July 6, 2016
AIM: To compare anemia prevalence between matched chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients with and without diabetes mellitus (DM) and to assess factors associated with anemia development.
METHODS: This is a nested case-control study of 184 type-2 diabetic and 184 non-diabetic CKD patients from a prospectively assembled database of a Nephrology outpatient clinic, matched for gender, age and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Prevalence of anemia (hemoglobin: Men: < 13 g/dL, women: < 12 g/dL and/or use of recombinant erythropoietin) was examined in comparison, in the total population and by CKD Stage. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify factors associated with anemia.
RESULTS: The total prevalence of anemia was higher in diabetics (47.8% vs 33.2%, P = 0.004). Accordingly, prevalence was higher in diabetics in CKD Stage 3 (53.5% vs 33.1%, P < 0.001) and particularly in Stage 3a (60.4% vs 26.4%, P < 0.001), whereas it was non-significantly higher in Stage 4 (61.3% vs 48.4%; P = 0.307). Serum ferritin was higher in diabetics in total and in CKD stages, while serum iron was similar between groups. In multivariate analyses, DM (OR = 2.206, 95%CI: 1.196-4.069), CKD Stages 3a, 3b, 4 (Stage 4: OR = 12.169, 95%CI: 3.783-39.147) and serum iron (OR = 0.976, 95%CI: 0.968-0.985 per mg/dL increase) were independently associated with anemia.
CONCLUSION: Prevalence of anemia progressively increases with advancing stages of CKD and is higher in diabetic than matched non-diabetic CKD patients and diabetes is independently associated with anemia occurrence. Detection and treatment of anemia in diabetic CKD patients should be performed earlier than non-diabetic counterparts.
Core tip: Anemia is an established complication of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and diabetes mellitus is proposed to further increase anemia occurrence through various mechanisms. However, a direct comparison between diabetic and non-diabetic CKD patients with regards to anemia is currently missing. This study evaluates in comparison the prevalence of anemia in carefully matched CKD patients with and without diabetes mellitus.