ECE2024 Eposter Presentations Diabetes, Obesity, Metabolism and Nutrition (383 abstracts)
National Institute of Nutrition, Department C, Tunisia
Introduction: Anemia is a pathology frequently associated with diabetes mellitus. The aim of our study was to determine the characteristics of anemia in a population of patients with diabetes mellitus (DM).
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in Department C of the National Institute of Nutrition of Tunis. Recruitment was spread over 2 months. We enrolled patients hospitalized for diabetes control with anemia, as defined by the World Health Organization. We did not include pregnant women.
Results: Thirty eight patients were enrolled. The mean age was 49.9±15 years and the sex ratio was 0.4. Patients presented type 2 diabetes in 60.5% of cases. The majority (86.8%) had diabetes with degenerative complications. Two-thirds of the population had diabetic nephropathy. More than half (55.3%) had diabetic neuropathy. Diabetic retinopathy was present in 44.7% of cases. Clinically, almost half the population presented with conjunctival pallor (47.4%). Two patients had arterial hypotension and one patient had resting tachycardia. Anemia was mild in 52.6% of cases, with a mean hemoglobin level of 10.82g/dl ±1.23. It was hypochromic in 42.1%, normochromic in 57.9%, microcytic in 34.2% and normocytic in 65.8%, with a mean Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) of 14.37±2.34. Anemic diabetic women had significantly lower mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) and ferritinemia (P=0.006; P=0.004; P=0.002) than men. No statistically significant association was found between metformin intake and anemia characteristics.
Conclusion: Anemia is a fairly widespread pathology in Tunisia. Studies suggest that it is associated with glycemic imbalance and degenerative complications. Larger-scale studies are needed to investigate these associations.