Eureka! Institutional Repository

ABSTRACT Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a contemporary disease, its prevalence is drastically increasing, and diabetic patients are more than 300 million globally. It has been observed that the greater the duration of the disease, the greater is the chance of the development of anemia and it is calculated to be 2-3 times greater than the general population. Aim: The aim of the current study is to find the causes of anemia in diabetic patients in order to find an optimal treatment. Method: Fifty (50) anemic patients without DM and fifty (50) anemic patients with DM were studied from the 1st propaedeutic internal medicine department, AHEPA Hospital. We would like to report if there are any differences between the two groups that had been studied. The study lasted for 6 months and the statistical analysis had been carried out with the SPPS v.23. The findings of the current study display that in patients with anemia and DM some markers are not reliable such as ferritin, because those values can be normal or even elevated, however they are not correspondent to the iron levels of the patients. The levels of erythropoietin can be used as a marker for anemia and the levels of B12 are usually low. Conclusion: There is a need for a full lab work up in patients with DM and specialized tests depending on the cause of anemia so as to choose the optimal treatment for the patients. There is a greater need for research in the field with larger trials for the investigation and documentation of this issue