(HealthDay)—For older patients with diabetes, the prevalence of anemia is 59 percent, with determinants including older age and longer duration of diabetes, according to research published in the October issue of Clinical Diabetes.
Katie Trevest, M.B.Ch.B., from Rotherham General Hospital in the United Kingdom, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional audit in an outpatient diabetes clinic for older people (aged >75 years). The authors examined the prevalence and determinants of anemia in a population of 115 patients receiving long-term follow-up (more than two years).
The researchers found that the prevalence of anemia was 59 percent, with 80 percent of anemia normocytic. Compared to those without anemia, patients with anemia were found to be significantly older (84.6 versus 82.1 years; P = 0.01), with a longer diabetes duration (17.7 versus 13.5 years; P = 0.03) and lower estimated glomerular filtration rate (47.8 versus 58.1 ml/min/1.73 m²; P = 0.01). In multivariate regression analysis, older age and longer diabetes duration significantly predicted anemia (odds ratios, 4.6 [95 percent confidence interval (CI), 1.9 to 8.1; P = 0.001] and 2.9 [95 percent CI, 1.2 to 6.9; P = 0.01]), while chronic kidney disease (CKD) had a borderline significant effect (odds ratio, 2.4; 95 percent CI, 0.96 to 5.7; P = 0.06).
"Older age and duration of diabetes were identified as significant predictors of anemia, whereas CKD was found to act as a mediator rather than a direct cause," the authors write.
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