Anaemia in patients with diabetes: unrecognised, undetected and untreated?

Background: Diabetes mellitus is one of the two most common causes of end-stage renal disease and significant proportions of patients with diabetes mellitus develop renal complications. Anaemia is a key indicator of renal disease yet most patients with diabetes are rarely tested for anaemia and are unaware of the link between anaemia and kidney disease.

Patients And Methods: A pan-European study was undertaken to assess patients' level of awareness and understanding of anaemia and of the complications of diabetes mellitus, and to determine the impact of anaemia on quality of life. The study comprised a questionnaire-based interview with 1,054 respondents from six countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and the UK). Ages ranged from 18 to 85, the average duration of diabetes was 15 years and 69% of respondents had type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Results: Only 32% of respondents had been given information about anaemia, although 83% had heard of anaemia. Less than half were aware of being tested for anaemia and only 14% attributed anaemia to diabetes. Of 1,054 respondents, 132 were known to be anaemic, one-fifth had received no treatment, 12 had received blood transfusions, five were receiving erythropoietin therapy and the remainder had been given iron and/or vitamin supplementation. Perceived state of health was worse in those with anaemia, 47% had either experienced periods of ill health or were feeling in poor health generally compared with only 28% of those without anaemia. Tiredness and lethargy were more marked in those with anaemia, 74% feeling tired and lethargic considerably more often or somewhat more often than others compared with only 52% of those without anaemia. With respect to complications of diabetes, respondents were most concerned about retinopathy (40%) but 23% were concerned about developing nephropathy. Only 46% had received information about renal complications.

Conclusions: Anaemia has a significant impact on the quality of life of patients with diabetes. Although patients are aware of anaemia, their awareness of being tested for anaemia is low. A significant number of those in whom anaemia was detected received no treatment. It is likely that anaemia in patients with diabetes is unrecognised, undetected and untreated.