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, ≥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, 9% 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.