What is the most common cause of anemia? This is the most common cause worldwide. Too little sleep B. Too much sugar C. Too little iron in the blood D. Exposure to X-ray radiation. Which of these groups is the most likely to have anemia? Women ages 65 and younger are more likely to suffer from anemia than men.
Men B. Women C. Teenagers D. Older adults. How does anemia affect the body? Severe anemia can affect heart function. The blood doesn't deliver enough oxygen to the body B.
Skip to main content. Blood and blood vessels. Home Blood and blood vessels. Actions for this page Listen Print. Summary Read the full fact sheet. On this page. Red blood cells explained Causes of anaemia Symptoms of anaemia Groups at high risk of anaemia Diagnosis of anaemia Treatment for anaemia Long-term outlook for people with anaemia Prevention of anaemia Where to get help. Anaemia is a deficiency in the number or quality of red blood cells in your body.
Red blood cells carry oxygen around your body using a particular protein called haemoglobin. Anaemia means that either the level of red blood cells or the level of haemoglobin is lower than normal.
When a person has anaemia, their heart has to work harder to pump the quantity of blood needed to get enough oxygen around their body.
This blood condition is common, particularly in females. Some estimates suggest that around one in five menstruating women and half of all pregnant women are anaemic. Anemia may be associated with postpartum depression. This article was contributed by: familydoctor.
This information provides a general overview and may not apply to everyone. Talk to your family doctor to find out if this information applies to you and to get more information on this subject. While many people who are obese or overweight have a hard time losing weight, being underweight can cause health…. Strabismus is an eye disorder.
It affects the muscle control in your eyes. Visit The Symptom Checker. Read More. Fever in Infants and Children. Vomiting and Diarrhea. Home Diseases and Conditions Anemia. Table of Contents. What is anemia? There are a few other types of anemia, including: Aplastic anemia. This occurs when your bone marrow has damaged stem cells. Your body fails to produce enough new blood cells. The condition affects your red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Sometimes it is called bone marrow failure.
Hemolytic anemia. This occurs when your body destroys red blood cells before they should. The normal lifespan of red blood cells is days. Normocytic anemia. This occurs when your red blood cells are normal in size, but low in count. Pernicious anemia. This occurs when your body lacks vitamin B It causes a shortage of healthy red blood cells. Sickle cell anemia a form of sickle cell disease. This is a genetic disease that affects your red blood cells.
It occurs when you are born with 2 abnormal hemoglobin genes. Symptoms of anemia Mild forms of anemia may not cause any symptoms.
Anemia can produce other symptoms, such as: Paleness Shortness of breath Cold hands and feet Headaches Dizziness Fast, slow, or uneven heartbeat Brittle nails or hair loss Strange food cravings known as pica Contact your doctor if you have any of these symptoms.
What causes anemia? There are three main reasons why anemia occurs. Diet Your body may not produce enough red blood cells if you lack certain nutrients. Pregnancy People who are pregnant or breastfeeding can get anemia. Kidney failure in people with kidney disease can cause anemia of chronic disease if the disease interferes with the kidneys' production of erythropoietin. Diseased kidneys also can cause the body to absorb less iron and folate, nutrients necessary to the creation of red blood cells.
People with kidney failure also might experience iron deficiency as a result of blood loss that occurs during hemodialysis. Certain types of cancer can prompt the release of inflammatory cytokines, which interfere with erythropoietin production and creation of red blood cells by the bone marrow.
These cancers include:. Cancer also can harm red blood cell production if it invades the bone marrow. Moreover, cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy can lead to anemia of chronic disease if they damage the bone marrow.
In order to determine if you have anemia, your doctor will most likely talk to you about your medical and family history, give you a physical exam, and perform the following tests: 1. Doctors may have different target numbers, but normal adult hematocrit values tend to range from 40 percent to 52 percent for men and 35 percent to 47 percent for women.
Target adult hemoglobin values are generally 14 to 18 grams per deciliter for men and 12 to 16 grams per deciliter for women. Most people with iron-deficiency anemia will recover fully. But if the condition is not corrected, and chronic iron deficiency persists until the red cell count and hemoglobin levels get extremely low, it can be fatal.
While prognosis varies from person to person, the condition can be short-lived for those who develop aplastic anemia because of medications, pregnancy, low-dose radiation or infectious mononucleosis.
The condition can be life-threatening if it's severe and lasts a long time or if treatments are not effective. For those who do not recover, they may receive a bone marrow transplant from a sibling or other matched donor; their prognosis is better than for those who receive a transplant from a donor unrelated to them. And the prognosis is increasingly reported to be favorable. For older patients with acquired aplastic anemia, when immunosuppressive therapy is the only option, about 50 percent of people will respond well to it.
People with aplastic anemia are at higher than average risk of developing leukemia. While there is no cure for sickle cell anemia, treatments can help with pain management and with preventing complications. Improved treatments have given a better outlet for people with sickle cell anemia. As little as 40 years ago, almost 15 percent of children born with sickle cell anemia died before age 2, and many more died as teens, according to the NHLBI. Pernicious anemia, once it manifests, will require treatment for the duration of one's life, yet treatment is well tolerated and the disorder should not cause significant hardship.
In some studies, they have shown having pernicious anemia increases the chances of developing stomach cancer. If the underlying condition that is causing anemia of chronic disease gets treated, the condition can resolve as a result. Iron supplements prescribed by your physician or hematologist taken orally can work within 3 to 10 days to increase the body's production of red blood cells; however, it typically takes months to bring iron levels back to normal. When aplastic anemia is caused by radiation, chemotherapy, and other drugs, the condition tends to subside once treatments stop.
For women who develop aplastic anemia when pregnant, the condition usually improves once they're no longer pregnant. Having sickle cell anemia means having a lifelong condition because a blood and bone marrow transplant are the only cure, and a small percentage of people with the disease actually get the transplant.
While pernicious anemia is a lifelong condition, treatment can help people feel well and live normal lives. In most cases, early diagnosis and treatment can help reverse complications of pernicious anemia, such as nerve damage.
When the underlying condition that is causing anemia of chronic disease is treated, the condition tends to go away. Learn More About Anemia Treatments. While there's no known prevention for aplastic anemia, staying clear of insecticides, herbicides, organic solvents, paint removers, and other toxic chemicals may lower your risk.
While pernicious anemia caused by a lack of intrinsic factor is not preventable, those who develop the disease because they lack B12 in their diet can potentially reduce the impact by eating foods high in B12, such as beef, eggs, fortified cereal, and more, yet ultimately they are likely to need high-dose B12 supplementation or injections under their doctors' guidance. Anemia affects 1. Children who are preschool age are greatly affected.
Nonpregnant women have the greatest prevalence, while men experience the lowest occurrences. As the most common blood condition in the United States, anemia affects three million Americans. In some cases, B12 deficiency can be caused by conditions such as infections, surgery, medicines, and diet. Crohn's and celiac disease can also interfere with B12 absorption.
Anemia of chronic disease can be caused by inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, inflammatory bowel disease, lupus, diabetes, and degenerative joint disease.
Infectious diseases, such as HIV, hepatitis , tuberculosis, heart infection, and bone infection, can also lead to anemia of chronic disease. Additionally, kidney failure and cancers, such as Hodgkin disease, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and lung and breast cancer, can cause anemia. Sometimes getting the right amount of iron from your diet isn't enough if your body isn't able to absorb it properly.
For instance, people who've had intestinal surgery, such as gastric bypass, or those with Crohn's disease or celiac disease , may have trouble absorbing iron. Iron absorption can also be limited by prescription medicines that reduce acid in the stomach. Blood loss is another cause of iron deficiency anemia because whenever you lose blood from your body, iron loss also occurs. If you don't have enough iron stored in your body to make up for the iron lost in your blood, you can develop anemia.
Blood loss that leads to low iron levels can result from: 10 , Symptoms of iron-deficiency anemia vary depending on how severe your anemia is. If you have mild to moderate iron-deficiency anemia, you may not have any signs or symptoms. But as the condition worsens, you may experience: If you're mildly anemic, your doctor may recommend a diet filled with iron-rich foods. The foods with the highest iron content are:.
Take note that iron from vegetable sources is less readily absorbed than iron from meat, poultry, or seafood. With all forms of anemia, tiredness or fatigue is the most common symptom because of low red blood cell count. Shortness of breath, dizziness, headache, coldness in your hands and feet, pale or yellowish skin, and chest pain are other signs.
0コメント