Prevalence and pattern of anemia in elderly- A hospital based study

Abstract

Anemia in the elderly is an extremely common problem that is associated with increased mortality and poorer health-related quality of life, regardless of the underlying cause of the low hemoglobin. A cross sectional study was conducted in the Department of Pathology, Assam Medical College and Hospital, Dibrugarh, in collaboration with the Department of Medicine . The purpose of this study was to study the prevalence of elderly patients with anemia and to study the pattern of anemia in such patients as well as the closest possible etiological profile. Prevalence calculated was 77% .Hundred patients above the age of 60 years were included for studying the pattern of anemia. Clinical profile with laboratory studies of Hemoglobin and diagnostic tests were done to know the etiology. Majority of patients had normocytic blood picture constituting 53%, microcytic 26%, macrocytic/dimorphic 13% and pancytopenia in 8%.Anemia of chronic disease was the commonest cause of anemia followed by iron deficiency anemia. 53/100 patients had normocytic blood picture .45 out of 53 patients had serum ferritin levels more than 100ng/ml. 13/26 of cases showing microcytic anemia had ferritin levels <20ng/ml and 5/26 had no evidence of iron deficiency have ferritin values >100ng/ml. None of the cases with macrocytic anemia and pancytopenia had serum ferritin values <100ng/ml. This shows that serum ferritin closely correlates with iron stores. Absence of iron capable of being stained by pearls stain is considered to be a reliable parameter of iron deficiency. Serum ferritin together with pearls stain in bone marrow is considered to be a reliable parameter of iron deficiency anemia. Confirming the type of anemia is critical to direct the investigation for profiling the etiology since it is well known that the treatment of anemia goes a long way in improving the overall outcome and quality of life.

A descriptive study of anaemia in the elderly at a tertiary care institute in Sri Lanka

“…The existence of chronic disease was the commonest cause (54.4%; n=111) for anaemia among elderly patients in the present study. Similar findings were reported in a study done in Assam, in which chronic diseases accounted for anaemia among 56% of hospitalized geriatric anaemic patients [14]. However, in Bangalore and Chandigarh, chronic diseases accounted for anaemia in only 32% and 35.2% of elderly anaemic patients respectively [17,22].…”

“…The severity of the anaemia among elders could depend on geography and socio-economic factors. The severity of the anaemia leans towards high in low-income settings and low in high-income settings [14]. More than a third (42.2%; n=86) of the participants of the present study had severe anaemia which highlights the seriousness of anaemia in the elderly in a low-income setting such as Sri Lanka.…”

Prevalence of anemia, associated risk factors and outcome in CHUK, Rwanda: a prospective observational study

“…Anemia is defined as decreased level of hemoglobin below the normal limit of less than 13g/dl and 12g/dl in men and women respectively [1,2]. WHO categorizes anemia as mild when hemoglobin is from 10 to 11.9g/dl and 10 to 12.9 g/dl in women and men respectively; moderate when hemoglobin level is from 7 to 9.9g/dl in both genders and severe when hemoglobin is less than 7g/dl in both men and women [3,4,5].…”