Iron deficiency anemia in patients with hypothyroidism, a single center, cross sectional study.

Objectives: Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is commonly encountered in patients with hypothyroidism. Many studies demonstrate valuable association between the two; therefore further investigation was required to understand the frequency and association in order to ensure better disease outcomes. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of IDA in patients with hypothyroidism, in a tertiary care hospital of Karachi. This Study Design: Single center, cross sectional study. Setting: Department of General Medicine, Liaquat National Hospital Karachi. Period: Feb 2018 to July 2018. Material and Methods: Two hundred seventy four patients with hypothyroidism were selected. Serum iron profile was sent to the institutional laboratory to assess the outcome variable i.e iron deficiency anemia. All the collected information was entered in the prescribed Performa. Results: Out of 274 hypothyroid patients 106 (38.7%) were male and 168 (61.3%) were female with the mean age was 38.82 + 4.009. Anemia was present in 40(14.4 %) patients and amongst them, IDA was observed in 20 (7.2%) patients. Conclusion: From the findings in the study, it was noted that free T4 had an influence on erythrocyte indices, namely hemoglobin levels, mean corpuscular volume and packed cell volume. This outcome therefore demonstrates some association of IDA with hypothyroidism. It is thus prudent to assess individuals with chronic IDA who have already been found negative for common causes of IDA like chronic blood loss menorrahgia in females nutritional deficiencies and worm infestations for hypothyroidism.