Authors: M C Thomas M E Cooper K Rossing H H Parving
Publish Date: 2006/04/04
Volume: 49, Issue: 6, Pages: 1151-
Abstract
Anaemia is a common finding in patients with diabetes particularly in those with overt nephropathy or renal impairment In tertiary clinics at least one outpatient in five with diabetes has anaemia for whom it constitutes a significant additional burdenAnaemia is associated with an increased risk of diabetic complications including nephropathy retinopathy and macrovascular disease Anaemia may also be significant in determining the outcome of heart failure and hypoxiainduced organ damage in diabetes While several factors contribute to the increased prevalence of anaemia in diabetes the failure of the kidney to increase erythropoietin in response to falling haemoglobin appears to be the dominant factor Although there is a clear rationale for correcting anaemia in people with diabetes it remains to be established whether this will lead to improved outcomes Moreover the balance of risks costs and benefits remains to be established in patients with diabetes The Trial to Reduce Cardiovascular Events with Aranesp darbepoetin alpha Therapy TREAT is a randomised controlled trial designed to determine the impact of anaemia correction on mortality and nonfatal cardiovascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes and stage 3–4 nephropathyAnaemia is a common finding in chronic kidney disease CKD affecting over half of all patients 1 Diabetes as the most common single cause of CKD in the Western world is therefore also the most common cause of renal anaemia However anaemia is also more common in diabetic nephropathy than in other renal diseases For example the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found that people in the general population with diabetes were nearly twice as likely to have anaemia as people without diabetes but with a similar degree of renal impairment 2 Anaemia also develops earlier and is more severe in patients with diabetes than in patients with renal impairment from other causes 3 4
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