A study of nearly 600 patients with severe non-inflammatory respiratory disease has found that a significant percentage also suffered from anaemia, according to the April issue of IJCP , the International Journal of Clinical Practice .
"The links between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and anaemia are already well known, but our study also shows that anaemia is frequently found in patients with severe non-inflammatory respiratory diseases" says lead author Dr Florian Kollert from the Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, University Medical Centre, Freiburg, Germany.
Patients with chronic respiratory failure who had been discharged from the hospital to receive home mechanical ventilation over a 15-year period were retrospectively reviewed. Just over half of the patients (55 per cent) had obstructive disease and the rest had restrictive disease.
The research team discovered that 13 per cent of the patients had anaemia, with statistically similar levels in the restrictive disease group (approximately 12 per cent) and obstructive disease group (approximately 15 per cent).
Other key findings included:
"Our study systematically examined the prevalence of anaemia in a large cohort of patients with chronic respiratory failure and different types of underlying respiratory disorders" says Dr Kollert.
"The results indicate that anaemia is a regular phenomenon in severe respiratory disorder, not just as a result of systemic inflammation.
"We believe our findings underline the importance of clinicians being aware of the high prevalence of anaemia in respiratory disease and the need to regularly check potential nutritional deficiencies in these patients. Further research is needed to determine whether treatment for anaemia will prove beneficial in respiratory disease."
The paper can be read online free at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1742-1241.2011.02631.x/pdf
Notes to editors
Anaemia in chronic respiratory failure. Kollert et al. IJCP , The International Journal of Clinical Practice . 65.4, pp 479-486. (April 2011). DOI: 10.1111/j.1742-1241.2011.02631.x
IJCP , the International Journal of Clinical Practice was established in 1946 and is edited by Dr Graham Jackson. It provides its global audience of clinicians with high-calibre clinical papers, including original data from clinical investigations, evidence-based analysis and discussions on the latest clinical topics. The journal is published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd, part of the international Blackwell Publishing group. www.ijcp.org www.twitter.com/IJCPeditors
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International Journal of Clinical Practice