Anaemia and its associated factors among diabetes mellitus patients in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

INTRODUCTION: Anaemia is common but often overlooked in diabetes mellitus (DM) patients. There is also no official nationwide survey registry that estimated the prevalence of anaemia in DM patients in Ethiopia. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to determine the countrywide pooled prevalence and associated factors of anaemia in DM patients. METHODS: This systematic review and meta‐analysis were conducted as per the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. STATA 11 software was used for all statistical analysis. Random effects model was used to estimate the pooled prevalence of anaemia and associated factors at a 95% confidence interval (CI) with its respective odds ratio (OR). Subgroup analysis and egger test were used to determine heterogeneity and publication bias, respectively. RESULTS: Nine articles were included in this systematic review and meta‐analysis with a total of 2889 DM patients. The pooled prevalence of anaemia among DM patients in Ethiopia was 22.11% (95% CI: 15.83–28.39) I (2) = 94.8%. The prevalence of anaemia in type I and type II DM patients was (16.78% [95% CI: 11.53–22.04]) and (31.12% [95% CI; 9.66–52.58]), respectively. The prevalence of anaemia was higher among male (36.72% [95% CI: 22.58–50.87] I (2) = 97.6%) than female (27.51% [95% CI: 16.12–38.90] I (2) = 96.3%). Moreover, the odds of anaemia were higher among patients with age ˃ 60 (OR = 2.98; 95% CI: 1.83, 4.87), low estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (OR = 8.59; 95% CI: 4.76, 15.57), and duration of illness ≥5 years (OR = 2.66; 95%: 1.38, 5.13). CONCLUSIONS: The result of this review implies that anaemia is a moderate public health problem among DM patients in Ethiopia. Older age, poor glycemic control, low eGFR and longer duration of illness were found to be the contributing factors for the development of anaemia in DM patients. Therefore, by considering the negative impact of anaemia, it is important to include anaemia screening into routine assessment of DM‐related complications targeting patients with older age, poor glycemic control, low eGFR, and longer duration of illness to reduce the magnitude of the problem.