Haematological Patterns of Anaemia in Geriatric Patients and Its Etiology: A Study of 500 Cases

Introduction: Anaemia in the elderly is a global health problem, since it is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The World Health Organization’s criteria consider anaemia when level of haemoglobin is less than 13g/dl in male and 12g/dl in female. Anaemia is easier to miss among the elderly because symptoms such as fatigue, generalized weakness, or mental confusion can be linked to the ageing process. However, anaemia should never be considered as a natural part of growing older.

Aim: To investigate the haematological pattern of anaemia and its underlying etiology in elderly Indian patients.

Materials and Methods: A prospective study undertaken over a span of 2 years in a tertiary care hospital in Western Maharashtra. The study included 500 geriatric (>65years) anaemic patients who underwent a complete haemogram and the results were correlated with peripheral blood smear findings. Other diagnostic tests were done as indicated.

Results: The spectrum encompassed all patterns of anaemia with the most common being normocytic normochromic pattern (57.26%). Overall, there was slight male preponderance (53%) with 65-74 years (69%) being the most common age group afflicted. Maximum number of elderly people had moderate anaemia(56%) in this study; and chronic disease (27.2%) was the most common etiological cause of anaemia followed by iron deficiency (23.4%). Upper gastrointestinal lesions (59%) were the most common causes of iron deficiency anaemia in the present study followed by nutritional deficiency (31.6%).

Conclusion: Correlation of haemogram and peripheral blood smears is a crucial first step to identify the haematological pattern of anaemia and advise subsequent investigations for assessing and diagnosing it’s etiology. Thus, it plays a role in deciding the management protocol and contributes towards a better quality of life for geriatric anemic patients.