Bager P, Befrits R, Wikman O et al. Scand J Gastroenterol 2011;46:304–9.
In this study, Bager et al. investigated the prevalence of anemia and iron deficiency among patients with IBD at six centers in Scandinavian countries. The overall prevalence of anemia was 19%, with a higher prevalence in Crohn’s disease than in ulcerative colitis patients.
The authors evaluated the prevalence of anemia and iron deficiency among patients with IBD in Scandinavia. This cross-sectional study included 429 IBD patients from six centers in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. All patients were screened for anemia and iron deficiency. While the authors reported the C-reactive protein (CRP) data and used disease activity indices, they did not differentiate rates of anemia based on active versus inactive disease. They also did not report what percentage of their study population had active disease (CRP is not wholly sensitive for active disease). Each center included approximately 5% of their overall IBD cohort in the analysis. The patients included were those consecutively seen in the outpatient clinic, regardless of disease activity and whether visits were scheduled or not.