Introduction:

Anemia and iron deficiency are very prevalent conditions in hemodialysis and have been associated with an increase in morbidity and mortality.

Objective:

Describe the characteristics of iron deficiency and anemia in patients with end-stage renal disease on hemodialysis, and analyze the parameters of the blood count to predict iron deficiency in them.

Materials and methods:

A cross-sectional descriptive study carried out in the hemodialysis unit of the Specialties Hospital of the Armed Forces No. 1 and CLINEF Norte, Quito, Ecuador, during December 2018 and January 2019. The analysis was based on the comparison of two groups, ferropenic and non-ferropenic patients.

Results:

We included 268 patients with an average age of 59.16 years; 89 patients (33.21%) were ferropenic. However, they presented normal hematimetric parameters in most of them. We also found that 80.22% of the patients included were anemic, with little frequency of microcytosis and hypochromia. Among them, 33.21% were ferropenic, being hemoglobin a poor marker of iron deficiency. Additionally, to predict ferropenia, and not to have ferritin or transferrin saturation, we find especially useful the mean corpuscular hemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume, erythrocyte distribution width, and Srivastava index, however the predictive value increases when including the syderemia as in our proposed model.

Conclusions:

Given the high frequency of anemia without hypochromia or microcytosis in patients with end-stage renal disease on hemodialysis, even in iron deficiency, regular evaluation of ferric metabolism is essential, as well as the analysis of the blood count with a focus on the dialysis patient.

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