Background: Anaemia is an increasingly recognised entity in patients with diabetes mellitus.
Aims: We aimed to determine the prevalence of anaemia in our population of patients with diabetes, and to examine the factors associated with anaemia.
Methods: The haemoglobin (Hb) levels in a consecutive series of patients attending for annual review of their diabetes over a three-month period were measured. Patients were classified as anaemic as per the WHO criteria.
Results: During the period of study, 270 patients attended for review. Eleven per cent of males and 16% of females were anaemic. Seventy four per cent of anaemic patients had a serum creatinine <110micromol/l and 72% of anaemic patients had a calculated creatinine clearance of >60ml/min.
Conclusions: Anaemia was relatively common in patients attending for routine outpatient diabetes clinic review. The high prevalence of anaemia supports the routine screening for anaemia in the diabetes out-patient clinic, including in those without overt nephropathy.