Regulation of erythropoiesis in diabetes mellitus.

The regulation of erythropoiesis in 40 subjects with diabetes mellitus was investigated to test the hypothesis that increased blood concentrations of glycosylated hemoglobin would produce a reduced p50 and a compensatory increase in erythropoietin. Little evidence to support this hypothesis was observed. However, diabetes did produce complex changes in hemoglobin-oxygen releasing capacity which were compensated for in the expected way, i.e. oxygen releasing capacity showed an inverse correlation with erythropoietin. We conclude that the effects of diabetes on erythropoiesis are minor and probably have no pathological significance in most patients suffering from this disease.