Abstract
Background
Anemia is common in patients with active ulcerative colitis. We aimed to study the anemia profile in patients with ulcerative colitis in clinical remission.
Methods
Sixty-four patients with ulcerative colitis and with a clinical Mayo score less than 3 for at least 3 months were evaluated for anemia. Initial screening was done by hemogram and only patients with anemia were evaluated further for the cause of anemia. We also screened a control population for anemia. Patients with mild anemia were given oral iron, moderate anemia were given intravenous iron and severe anemia were given blood transfusion.
Results
The mean hemoglobin in ulcerative colitis patients was 11.75 g/dL and in controls was 13.1 g/dL (p=0.011). The prevalence of anemia was 53.1% in the ulcerative colitis patients and 13.3% in the controls (p=<0.001). 58.8% had mild anemia, 29.4% had moderate anemia and 8.8% had severe anemia. Iron deficiency was the most common cause of anemia (70.5%) followed by anemia of chronic disease combined with iron deficiency in 23.5%. Ferritin levels did not correlate with hemoglobin levels. Oral iron increased the hemoglobin by 1.4 g/dL and intravenous iron by 2.2 g/dL at 1 month.
Conclusion
Anemia was seen in more than half of patients with ulcerative colitis in clinical remission, iron deficiency being the most common cause.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bruner AB, Joffe A, Duggan AK, et al. Randomised study of cognitive effects of iron supplementation in non-anemic iron-deficient adolescent girls. Lancet. 1996;348:992–6.
Chavarro JE, Rich-Edwards JW, Rosner BA, et al. Iron intake and risk of ovulatory infertility. Obstet Gynecol. 2006;108:1145–52.
Gomollon F, Gisbert JP. Anemia and inflammatory bowel diseases. World J Gastroenterol. 2009;15:4659–65.
Evstatiev R, Marteau P, Iqbal T, et al. FERGIcor, a randomized controlled trial on ferric carboxymaltose for iron deficiency anemia in inflammatory bowel disease. Gastroenterology. 2011;141:846–53. e841–42
Gisbert JP, Gomollon F. Common misconceptions in the diagnosis and management of anemia in inflammatory bowel disease. Am J Gastroenterol. 2008;103:1299–307.
Khan N, Patel D, Shah Y, et al. Factors predicting testing and treatment of iron deficiency in a nationwide cohort of anemic UC patients. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2016;22:2894–901.
Stein J, Hartmann F, Dignass AU. Diagnosis and management of iron deficiency anemia in patients with IBD. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2010;7:599–610.
Oustamanolakis P, Koutroubakis IE, Kouroumalis EA. Diagnosing anemia in inflammatory bowel disease: beyond the established markers. J Crohns Colitis. 2011;5:381–91.
Skikne BS, Punnonen K, Caldron PH, et al. Improved differential diagnosis of anemia of chronic disease and iron deficiency anemia: a prospective multicenter evaluation of soluble transferrin receptor and the sTfR/log ferritin index. Am J Hematol. 2011;86:923–7.
Dignass AU, Gasche C, Bettenworth D, et al. European consensus on the diagnosis and management of iron deficiency and anaemia in inflammatory bowel diseases. J Crohns Colitis. 2015;9:211–22.
Lucendo AJ, Arias Á, Roncero Ó, et al. Anemia at the time of diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease: Prevalence and associated factors in adolescent and adult patients. Dig Liver Dis. 2016;49:405-411.
Gasche C, Waldhoer T, Feichtenschlager T, et al. Prediction of response to iron sucrose in inflammatory bowel disease-associated anemia. Am J Gastroenterol. 2001;96:2382–7.
Onken JE, Bregman DB, Harrington RA, et al. A multicenter, randomized, active-controlled study to investigate the efficacy and safety of intravenous ferric carboxymaltose in patients with iron deficiency anemia. Transfusion. 2014;54:306–15.
Ford D, Cohen M, Strauss W, et al. Evaluation of ferumoxytol treatment for iron deficiency anemia in patients with gastrointestinal disorders who have a history of unsatisfactory oral iron therapy: results of a phase III, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Gastroenterology. 2013;144:S754.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Procedures performed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institution and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Conflict of interest
AC, VP, DC, PP, MI, AP, and PS declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chaubal, A., Pandey, V., Choksi, D. et al. Anemia in patients with ulcerative colitis in remission: A study from western India. Indian J Gastroenterol 36, 361–365 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12664-017-0791-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12664-017-0791-z