WASHINGTON—Obesity is associated with a lower risk of anemia among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), investigators reported at the American Society of Nephrology’s Kidney Week 2019 meeting.
The finding is from a prospective study that included 2214 patients in the KNOW-CKD (KoreaN Cohort Study for Outcome in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease) study. During a mean follow-up period of 37.5 months during which hemoglobin levels were measured annually, anemia developed in 414 (35.5%) of 1165 patients who did not have anemia at baseline. Obese patients had a significant 24% decreased risk of anemia compared with normal-weight patients in multivariable analysis, according to Hyo Jin Kim, MD, of Dongguk University College of Medicine in Gyeongju-si, Korea, and colleagues.
Of the 2214 patients, 41.7% were obese (body mass index [BMI] 25 kg/m2 or higher), 26.5% were overweight (BMI 23 kg/m2 or higher but less than 25 kg/m2), 29.4% were normal weight (BMI 18.5 kg/m2 or higher but less than 23 kg/m2), and 2.4% were underweight (BMI less than 18.5 kg/m2).
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Dr Kim’s team defined anemia as a hemoglobin level below 13 g/dL in men and below 12 g/dL in women. Overall, 44% of patients had anemia and 55% had iron deficiency, defined as serum ferritin levels below 100 ng/mL or a transferrin saturation less than 20%.
Reference
Kim HJ, Kang E, Kang M, et al. Anemia, iron status, and anemia development in relation to body mass index in nondialysis CKD patients: The results from the KNOW-CKD study. Presented at the American Society of Nephrology’s Kidney Week 2019 meeting held November 5 to 10 in Washington, DC. Poster SA-PO238.
