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Association of Anemia with Clinical Symptoms Commonly Attributed to Anemia—Analysis of Two Population-Based Cohorts

Background: Fatigue, dyspnea, and lack of energy and concentration are commonly interpreted as indicative of symptomatic anemia and may thus play a role in diagnostic and therapeutic decisions. Objective: To investigate the association between symptoms commonly attributed to anemia and the actual pr...

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Autores principales: Weckmann, Gesine, Kiel, Simone, Chenot, Jean-François, Angelow, Aniela
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9918126/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36769569
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcm12030921
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author Weckmann, Gesine
Kiel, Simone
Chenot, Jean-François
Angelow, Aniela
author_facet Weckmann, Gesine
Kiel, Simone
Chenot, Jean-François
Angelow, Aniela
author_sort Weckmann, Gesine
collection PubMed
description Background: Fatigue, dyspnea, and lack of energy and concentration are commonly interpreted as indicative of symptomatic anemia and may thus play a role in diagnostic and therapeutic decisions. Objective: To investigate the association between symptoms commonly attributed to anemia and the actual presence of anemia. Methods: Data from two independent cohorts of the Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP) were analyzed. Interview data, laboratory data, and physical examination were individually linked with claims data from the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians. A complete case analysis using logistic regression models was performed to evaluate the association of anemia with symptoms commonly attributed to anemia. The models were adjusted for confounders such as depression, medication, insomnia, and other medical conditions. Results: A total of 5979 participants (53% female, median age 55) were included in the analysis. Of those, 30% reported fatigue, 16% reported lack of energy, 16% reported lack of concentration, and 29% reported dyspnea and/or weakness. Anemia was prevalent in about 6% (379). The symptoms were more prevalent in participants with anemia. However, participants with anemia were older and had a poorer health status. There was no association in multivariate logistic regression models between the symptoms fatigue, lack of concentration, dyspnea, and/or weakness and anemia. Anemia was associated (OR: 1.45; 95% CI: 1.13–1.86) with lack of energy in the multivariate analysis. Other factors such as depression, insomnia, and medication were more strongly associated with the symptoms. Conclusion: The clinical symptoms commonly attributed to anemia are unspecific and highly prevalent both in non-anemic and anemic persons. Even in the presence of anemia, other diagnoses should be considered as causes such as depression, heart failure, asthma, and COPD, which are more closely associated with the symptoms. Further diagnostic research is warranted to explore the association of symptoms in different subgroups and settings in order to help clinical decision making.
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spelling pubmed-99181262023-02-11 Association of Anemia with Clinical Symptoms Commonly Attributed to Anemia—Analysis of Two Population-Based Cohorts Weckmann, Gesine Kiel, Simone Chenot, Jean-François Angelow, Aniela J Clin Med Article Background: Fatigue, dyspnea, and lack of energy and concentration are commonly interpreted as indicative of symptomatic anemia and may thus play a role in diagnostic and therapeutic decisions. Objective: To investigate the association between symptoms commonly attributed to anemia and the actual presence of anemia. Methods: Data from two independent cohorts of the Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP) were analyzed. Interview data, laboratory data, and physical examination were individually linked with claims data from the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians. A complete case analysis using logistic regression models was performed to evaluate the association of anemia with symptoms commonly attributed to anemia. The models were adjusted for confounders such as depression, medication, insomnia, and other medical conditions. Results: A total of 5979 participants (53% female, median age 55) were included in the analysis. Of those, 30% reported fatigue, 16% reported lack of energy, 16% reported lack of concentration, and 29% reported dyspnea and/or weakness. Anemia was prevalent in about 6% (379). The symptoms were more prevalent in participants with anemia. However, participants with anemia were older and had a poorer health status. There was no association in multivariate logistic regression models between the symptoms fatigue, lack of concentration, dyspnea, and/or weakness and anemia. Anemia was associated (OR: 1.45; 95% CI: 1.13–1.86) with lack of energy in the multivariate analysis. Other factors such as depression, insomnia, and medication were more strongly associated with the symptoms. Conclusion: The clinical symptoms commonly attributed to anemia are unspecific and highly prevalent both in non-anemic and anemic persons. Even in the presence of anemia, other diagnoses should be considered as causes such as depression, heart failure, asthma, and COPD, which are more closely associated with the symptoms. Further diagnostic research is warranted to explore the association of symptoms in different subgroups and settings in order to help clinical decision making. MDPI 2023-01-24 /pmc/articles/PMC9918126/ /pubmed/36769569 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcm12030921 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Weckmann, Gesine
Kiel, Simone
Chenot, Jean-François
Angelow, Aniela
Association of Anemia with Clinical Symptoms Commonly Attributed to Anemia—Analysis of Two Population-Based Cohorts
title Association of Anemia with Clinical Symptoms Commonly Attributed to Anemia—Analysis of Two Population-Based Cohorts
title_full Association of Anemia with Clinical Symptoms Commonly Attributed to Anemia—Analysis of Two Population-Based Cohorts
title_fullStr Association of Anemia with Clinical Symptoms Commonly Attributed to Anemia—Analysis of Two Population-Based Cohorts
title_full_unstemmed Association of Anemia with Clinical Symptoms Commonly Attributed to Anemia—Analysis of Two Population-Based Cohorts
title_short Association of Anemia with Clinical Symptoms Commonly Attributed to Anemia—Analysis of Two Population-Based Cohorts
title_sort association of anemia with clinical symptoms commonly attributed to anemia—analysis of two population-based cohorts
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9918126/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36769569
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcm12030921
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