RESUMO
Iron deficiency anaemia is a common entity in India. Diabetic parameters may fluctuate with respect to the haemoglobin variants and nutritional anaemia. However, the exact association between them has not been fully elucidated. We aimed to estimate and compare the diabetic parameters and the levels of glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) among anaemics and non-anaemics in non- diabetic patients.METHODSA comparative study was done in the Department of General Medicine, over a period of one-and-a-half years where 50 non-diabetic IDA patients as cases and 50 non- diabetic non-anaemic patients as controls were enrolled in the study. Iron profile and HbA1c levels were measured and compared at baseline. IDA patients were treated with iron supplements and the effects on the HbA1c levels after 3 months of treatment of iron deficiency were noted and analyzed. The data was entered in MS Excel spreadsheet and analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0. A P value of <0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.RESULTSWe found that anaemic patients had significantly higher fasting and random blood sugar levels with more patients in the pre-diabetic range as per HbA1c levels. The glycosylated Hb levels were significantly higher in Group A patients. (p<0.05). After initiating IDA treatment, there was a significant improvement in all the haematological parameters at 3 months follow up. There was a significant decrease in the HbA1c levels after three months of anaemia treatment. (p<0.0001).CONCLUSIONSIron deficiency anaemia has an inverse correlation with HbA1c levels. After correction of iron deficiency in the anaemic subjects, in most of the cases, the HbA1c levels declined to near normal values.