[Hepcidin and diabetic anemia: is there an association?]

Anemia is common in diabetes. The role of hepcidin in diabetic anemia is unknown.

To assess the relationship between serum hepcidin and anemia in diabetic patients without renal failure.

We prospectively studied 86 consecutive type II diabetic patients--39 with anemia (cases) and 47 without anemia (controls). Patients with renal failure, iron and vitamin B12 deficiency and chronic inflammatory diseases were excluded.

Univariate analyses showed that patients with anemia were older and had longer duration of diabetes compared to patients without anemia (P < 0.051). The median hepcidin level was 15 ng/mL (2-140 ng/ml) in patients with anemia compared to 14 ng/mL (2-128 ng/ml) in patients without anemia (P = 0.386]) Serum erythropoietin and creatinine levels were higher in patients with anemia compared to patients without anemia (P < 0.05). Patients with anemia had tower HbA1c levels (P = 0.035), and greater usage of anti-diabetic drugs; metformin 73% versus 46.8% (P = 0.016), and sulfonylurea 47.2% versus 19.1% (P = 0.006). After adjusting for age, the two groups still differed in duration of diabetes (P = 0.043), erythropoietin (P = 0.007) creatinine (P < 0.001), and usage of metformin, sulfonylurea and insulin (P < 0.05).

Subjects with diabetic anemia have Longer diabetes duration than subjects with diabetes without anemia. Based on the results of this small study, hepcidin was not associated with diabetic anemia.