The investigation of anaemia in the asymptomatic elderly

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Abstract
Summary: Since anaemia may be present in asymptomatic elderly men and women, an attempt was made to determine the haemoglobin value which represents anaemia associated with disease. The World Health Organisation criteria of anaemia were used: 13g/dl in men and 12g/dl in women. A cohort of 427 elderly men and women with no apparent illness living in the community were screened. Excluding anaemias due haemoglobinopathies, 4.0% of men and 4.8% of women had anaemia due to identifiable disease and 4.5% of men and 2.8% of women had anaemia without identifiable disease. The haemoglobin values for the latter group tended to be just below 13g/dl for males and 12g/dl for females. It is suggested that, in clinical practice, the criteria for further investigation of anaemia should be values below 12g/dl for men, and either 11g/dl or 12g/dl for women.

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