Background: Anemia is a common complication of diabetes mellitus, therefore having a major impact on the overall health and survival of diabetic patients. However, there is a paucity of evidence of anemia among diabetic patients in Ethiopia, particularly in Harari Region. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the magnitude of anemia and associated factors among Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) patients attending public hospitals in Harari Region, Eastern Ethiopia.
Methods: A hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted from February 25 to March 30, 2019. Probability proportion to size sampling, followed by simple random sampling, was utilized to select 374 T2DM patients. To collect the data, mixed methods were applied using questionnaires and checklist. Participants were tested for anemia based on World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. Data was double entered to EpiData version 3.1 and exported into Stata version 14.0 for statistical analysis. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models were fitted; Crude Odds Ratio (COR) and Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) with 95% Confidence Interval (CI) were computed. Level of significance was declared at p-value less than 0.05.
Results: The study revealed 34.8% of the participants were anemic (CI: 28.7, 40.9). Being male (AOR = 2.92, CI: 1.65, 5.17), physical inactivity (AOR = 2.58, CI: 1.50, 4.44), having nephropathy (AOR = 2.43, CI: 1.41, 4.21), poor glycemic control (AOR = 1.98, CI: 1.17, 3.34), recent history of blood loss (AOR = 4.41, CI: 1.26, 15.44) and duration of diabetes for five years and greater(AOR = 1.72, CI: 1.01, 2.96)were all significantly associated with anemia.
Conclusions: Anemia was a major health problem among T2DM patients in the study area. Therefore, routine screening of anemia for all T2DM patients aiding in early identification and improved management of diabetes will lead to improved quality of life in this patient population.