Types of Anaemia and its Correlation with Disease Activity in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis among Kurdish Population of Iraq

• Published in: Iraqi Journal of Hematology Vol. 5; no. 1; pp. 114 - 128
• Main Authors: Hisham A Getta, Najmaddin Khoshnaw, Alaa Fadhil Alwan, F A Sundus, Raouf R Mirza
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 01-01-2016
• Subjects: Anemia; Iraq; Kurdistan Region; Rheumatoid Arthritis; Sulaymaniyah
• ISSN: 2072-8069
• DOI: 10.4103/2072-8069.194542

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic inflammatory autoimmune disease characterized by articular and extra-articular manifestation as weight loss, fatigue, malaise, and anemia. Objectives: The aim of this study was to find the prevalence of different types of anemia and its correlation with the disease activity among patients with RA in Sulaymaniyah province and to determine the associated risk factors. Patients and Methods: A cross sectional study carried out in Sulaymaniyah general medical Hospital for periods from October-2014 to the end of June-2015.A convenient sample of 100 rheumatoid arthritis patients were selected from patients seen in the rheumatology clinic. One hundred healthy voluntary controls of same age groups were selected and same parameters for diagnosis of anemia are used in both groups. Results: The prevalence of all types of anemias among the rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) patients was 40% which more than that found in control group. The common types of anemia was anemia of chronic disease (28%), iron deficiency (10%), thalassemia minor (1%), and megaloblastic anemia 1%. We found a significant correlation of RA with each low hemoglobin, low hematocrit, high leucocyte count and high ESR. Anemia among RA patients in our study was significantly more prevalent among low socioeconomic status patients. The majority of RA patients had moderately or high active disease, which revealed no association between disease activity and anemia (p value=0.3). Conclusion : the prevalence and types of anemias among RA patients in Sulaymaniyah was comparable to that found in other studies and it was two times common than the normal healthy peoples. In our study we concluded that little evidence found between disease activity and anemia.