Prevalence of Anaemia in COPD Patients of Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India

Garima Jeswani¹*, Jayant Kumar¹, ND Soni¹, Rajnee¹, Ashok Rathi^2 
1Department of Physiology, Dr. S. N. Medical College, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India
²Department of Pulmonary Medicine, L.N. Rathi Memorial Hospital, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India

Abstract
Anaemia is commonly seen in COPD and increasingly being recognized as a risk factor associated with increased mortality. Occurrence and prevalence of anemia in COPD is less studied. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of anemia in COPD patients. The present study was conducted on 50 normal healthy controls and 150 COPD patients selected from Pulmonary medicine Department of LN Rathi Memorial Hospital Jodhpur. Each one of them was subjected to PFT assessment and various hematological parameters to determine anemia status of patient e.g. Hb, Hct, MCV, MCH, S. Iron, TIBC and S. Ferritin. Data thus obtained were compared with controls by Student’s t-test. Our results show that anemia is present in 44.67% patients. All PFT parameters were found to be significantly low [p-value < 0.0001] in anemic, nonanemic and overall COPD patients. Hb, Hct, MCV, MCH, S. Iron, and S. Ferritin values measured were very significantly low in anemic and overall patients but not in nonanemic patients. TIBC values show reverse trend i.e. high in anemics & all COPD patients but normal in nonanemics. This study indicates high prevalence of microcytic anemia in COPD patients.
Keywords:  Anaemia, Pulmonary function test, Emphysema, Inflammatory response, Cigarette smoking, COPD.