Association between diabetes mellitus and anemia among Korean adults according to sex: a cross-sectional analysis of data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2010–2016)

BACKGROUND: There are many conflicting opinions regarding the association between anemia and diabetes mellitus (DM), and the mechanism by which DM influences anemia remains uncertain. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the association between anemia and DM in Korean adults and to analyze the risk factors for anemia among these patients according to sex. METHODS: This retrospective cross-sectional survey was conducted using data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey V, VI, and VII between January 2010 and December 2016. In total, 25,597 Korean adults aged ≥19 years (10,117 men, 15,480 women) were included. Patients with a fasting blood sugar level of ≥126 mg/dL or who have been diagnosed with DM were classified as the DM group. Anemia was defined as hemoglobin levels of < 13 g/dL in men and < 12 g/dL in women. Logistic regression analysis was used to adjust for demographic characteristics and lifestyle-, disease-, and health-related factors. RESULTS: Approximately 11.3% of patients had DM. The prevalence of anemia was significantly higher in the DM group than in the non-DM group. After adjusting for confounding factors, the odds of the prevalence of anemia in men were higher in the DM group than in the non-DM group (odds ratio [OR] 1.87, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.42–2.50, p < 0.0001). When investigated according to the serum creatinine level, the association was significantly stronger among women (OR 42.63, 95% CI 17.25–105.36, p < 0.0001) than among men (OR 6.30, 95% CI 3.08–12.90, p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: We found a strong association between DM and anemia that was more prominent among men than among women. We also determined that the serum creatinine level had a greater influence on DM and anemia in women than in men. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12902-021-00873-9.