Background: Anemia is an adverse outcome and common complication in chronic kidney disease patients. This is usually associated with iron deficiency, inflammation and blood loss. However, little is known about the prevalence of anemia and its predictors among chronic kidney disease patients in Southern Ethiopia. This study aimed to determine anemia and its predictors among adult non-dialysis chronic kidney disease patients in Southern Ethiopia.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 384 chronic kidney disease patients from February to April 2019. Socio-demographic and clinical data were collected using questionnaires and medical records. Adjusted hemoglobin was taken to define anemia using the level of Hgb <13 mg/dL for males and <12 mg/dL for females; and blood films and serum ferritin were done for anemic participants. SPSS version 25.0 was used for data analysis. Frequency distribution tables and graphs were used to describe descriptive statistics. A bivariate logistic regression model was used to determine the predictors; p <.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: Overall prevalence of anemia was 44.0% (95% CI: 39.0%, 48.9%); of which 7.1%, 62.1% and 30.8% of anemic patients had mild, moderate and severe anemia, respectively. The prevalence of anemia increased from 20.6% in stage 2 to 100% in stage 5. Morphologically, normocytic normochromic anemia was the most predominant type. Cardiovascular disease (AOR = 2.37, 95% CI: 1.35, 4.16), diabetes mellitus (AOR = 2.77, 95% CI: 1.08, 7.14), stage 3b chronic kidney disease (AOR = 2.74, 95% CI: 1.31, 5.73) and stage 4 and 5 chronic kidney disease patients (AOR = 7.11, 95% CI: 3.22, 15.72) showed significant association with anemia.
Conclusion: Anemia was a severe public health problem and associated with cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus and stages of chronic kidney disease. Thus, early diagnosis, treatment and prevention of anemia are recommended.
Keywords: Anemia; Hawassa; Shashemene; Southern Ethiopia; chronic kidney disease.