Any long standing illness can lead to anemia, called as anemia of chronic disease (ACD). There are certain chemicals called interleukins which are released into the blood in excessive quantities during repair process in liver disease. As an unwanted effect they act on blood producing cells in bone narrow leading to ACD. Also, most of the iron is stored in liver as ferritin. In case of liver disease, it will not be available for synthesis of hemoglobin.