title: Microalbuminuria is associated with high prevalence of anemia in renal transplant recipients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Prevalence of anemia is higher in diabetic patients with microalbuminuria than those with normoalbuminuria despite the absence of significant renal impairment. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there was a relationship between microalbuminuria and anemia in renal transplant recipients (RTRs).
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-eight RTRs with microalbuminuria and 21 control RTRs with normoalbuminuria were classified based on urinary albumin creatinine ratios (UACR) of 0.03-0.3 versus <0.03, respectively. Anemia was defined as a hemoglobin level <13 g/dL for men and <12 g/dL for women.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Anemia was observed in 13 (46.4%) microalbuminuric and 4 (19%) normoalbuminuric patients (P = 0.044). Hemoglobin level was significantly lower in the microalbuminuric than the normoalbuminuric group (13.3 ± 1.3 g/dL vs 14.4 ± 1.9 g/dL, respectively; P = .018). Although creatinine clearance was significantly higher among the normoalbuminuric group (84 ± 30 mL/min vs 65 ± 22 mL/min, respectively; P = .017), mean creatinine clearance in microalbuminuric group was >60 mL/min, the threshold value for anemia due to erythropoietin (EPO) deficiency. In contrast, there was no significant difference between the 2 groups for age, gender, donor source, and transplant duration.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Anemia was frequent among RTRs displaying microalbuminuria, which may reflect EPO deficiency due to the tubulointerstitial injury of chronic allograft nephropathy. The EPO deficiency may begin before significant deterioration in excretory function of the kidney.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Erciyes University Medical School, Kayseri, Turkey. aydinunal2003@gmail.com
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Unal
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kocyigit
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arikan
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Sipahioglu
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tokgoz
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Oymak
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000419:Albuminuria / Q000150:complications*; D000740:Anemia / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence