Effect of poor glycemic control on the prevalence and determinants of anemia and chronic kidney disease among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in Jordan: An observational cross-sectional study.

Background and Objectives: Anemia and chronic kidney disease (CKD) are common findings in diabetic patients. Lack of glycemic control is associated with increased risk of diabetic complications. This study aimed to determine the effect of poor glycemic control on the prevalence and determinants of anemia and CKD among type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients in Jordan.
Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used in this research. T2DM patients with controlled diabetes (HbA1c ≤7.0%, n = 120) and age-, gender- and body mass index-matched uncontrolled diabetic patients (HbA1c >7.0%, n = 120) were recruited. Blood sample for HbA1c and serum insulin measurement were obtained. Complete blood count and kidney function test results were obtained from the patient's medical records. Anemia was determined according to World Health Organization criteria. A binomial logistic regression was performed to ascertain the effects of age, gender, CKD and glycemic control on the likelihood that participants have anemia.
Results: The prevalence of anemia was significantly higher in the uncontrolled T2DM compared to controlled T2DM patients (40% vs 27.5%, OR: 2.14, 95% CI: 1.23, 3.71, P = 0.006). Female patients with uncontrolled T2DM had significantly greater prevalence of anemia compared to male patients with uncontrolled T2DM. The binomial logistic regression analysis showed that age, female gender, and CKD were positively associated with anemia in the multivariate model, while in the univariate model, lack of glycemic control increases the odds of anemia by 1.74 (95% CI: 1.01, 2.99, P = 0.046).
Conclusion: Anemia is commonly present among T2DM patients in Jordan and is associated with poor glycemic control especially in females. These results emphasize the necessity of including anemia screening in standard diabetes care to enable early detection and treatment of anemia and to enhance the overall care of diabetic patients.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Copyright: © 2024 Al-Dwairi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)