Elevated serum advanced glycation end products and their circulating receptors are associated with anaemia in older community-dwelling women.

OBJECTIVE

to determine whether serum carboxymethyl-lysine, a dominant advanced glycation end product (AGE), and circulating total receptor for AGEs (sRAGE) and endogenous secretory receptor for AGEs (esRAGE) are associated with anaemia.

DESIGN

cross-sectional analysis.

SETTING

moderately severely disabled women, > or =65 years, living in the community in Baltimore, MD (the Women's Health and Aging Study I).

PARTICIPANTS

519 women with and without anaemia.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE

haemoglobin and anaemia (haemoglobin <12 g/dL).

RESULTS

of 519 women, 128 (24.7%) had anaemia. All odds ratios (OR) were expressed per one standard deviation. Serum CML was associated with anaemia [OR 1.47, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.11-1.95, P = 0.008] in a multivariate logistic regression model adjusting for age, race, smoking, education and chronic diseases. Serum sRAGE (ng/mL) and esRAGE (ng/mL) were associated with anaemia (OR 1.52, 95% CI 1.21-1.92, P = 0.0004; OR 1.49, 95% CI 1.18-1.87, P = 0.0006, respectively) in separate multivariate logistic regression models, adjusting for the same covariates mentioned above. Serum CML (P = 0.004), sRAGE (P < 0.0001) and esRAGE (P < 0.0001) were inversely and independently associated with haemoglobin concentrations.

CONCLUSION

AGEs and circulating RAGE are independently associated with haemoglobin and anaemia in older women. AGEs are amenable to interventions, as serum AGEs can be lowered by a change in dietary pattern and pharmacological treatment.