Anaemia, iron and vitamin deficits in patients with peripheral arterial disease.

INTRODUCTION Anaemia can compromise muscle and organ function. Related iron and vitamin body stores have seldom been assessed in patients with peripheral arterial disease. REPORT We retrospectively analysed basal prevalence of anaemia, iron, B(12)-vitamin and folic acid deficits in 420 patients with claudication and 204 patients with critical limb ischaemia (CLI). The prevalence of the evaluated parameters was 9.8%, 6.7%, 6.7% and 2.9% among patients with claudication but 49.5%, 31.9%, 15.7% and 6.4% among CLI patients, respectively (p < 0.05 for all). DISCUSSION Anaemia, iron and vitamin deficits are uncommon among patients with ischemic claudication but very prevalent among patients with CLI.