anemia

(noun)

A medical condition in which the capacity of the blood to transport oxygen to the tissues is reduced, either because of too few red blood cells, or because of too little hemoglobin, resulting in pallor and fatigue.

Related Terms

Examples of anemia in the following topics:

  • Anemia

    • Anemia is the most common disorder of the blood.
    • Anemia goes undiagnosed in many people, as symptoms can be minor or vague.
    • Anemia is typically diagnosed on a complete blood count.
    • This scheme quickly exposes some of the most common causes of anemia.
    • This is the most common type of anemia overall and it has many causes.

  • Complete Blood Count

    • Women who bleed heavily during menstruation have a high probability of developing iron-deficiency anemia.
    • Calculating the reticulocyte production index indicates whether or not the bone marrow is producing new blood cells at a rate that will correct the anemia, and can also be used to monitor the progress of treatment for anemia.
    • When there is an increased production of red blood cells to overcome chronic or severe loss of mature red blood cells, such as in a hemolytic anemia, people often have a markedly high number and percentage of reticulocytes.
    • Abnormally low numbers of reticulocytes can be attributed to chemotherapy, aplastic anemia, pernicious anemia, bone marrow malignancies, problems of erythropoietin production, various vitamin or mineral deficiencies (B9, B12, iron), disease states (anemia of chronic disease) and other causes of anemia due to poor RBC production.

  • Sickle-Cell Disease

    • Sickle-cell disease (SCD), or sickle-cell anemia, is an autosomal recessive genetic blood disorder with overdominance characterized by red blood cells that assume an abnormal, rigid, and sickle shape.
    • In the United States, about 1 out of 500 African-American children born will have sickle-cell anemia.
    • Sickle cell disease results in anemia and several types of crises.
    • Aplastic crises are acute worsenings of the patient's baseline anemia producing pallor, tachycardia, and fatigue.
    • Sickle cell anemia is caused by a change in hemoglobin's primary structure

  • Race and Ethnicity

    • Also, sickle-cell anemia is most prevalent in populations of sub-Saharan African ancestry, but it is also common among Latin-American, Indian, Saudi Arab, and Mediterranean populations, such as Turkey, Greece, and Italy.
    • Some diseases may also be influenced by genes that differ in frequency between groups, such as sickle-cell anemia, which occurs overwhelmingly among some black populations, although the significance in clinical medicine of race categories as a proxy for exact genotypes of individuals has been questioned.
    • In the United States, screening for sickle cell anemia is done on all newborns regardless of race.

  • RBC Life Cycle

    • Deficiency of any of these nutrients may cause anemia, a condition in which there aren't enough fully functional RBCs carrying oxygen in the bloodstream.
    • Many diseases that involve damage to RBCs (hemolytic anemias, sepsis, malaria, pernicious or nutritional anemias) or normal cellular processes that cause cellular damage (oxidative stress) may increase the rate of eryptosis.

  • RBC Anatomy

    • This occurs in people with spherocytic (sphere-shaped) anemia or sickle-cell anemia.

  • Transport of Oxygen in the Blood

    • Diseases such as sickle cell anemia and thalassemia decrease the blood's ability to deliver oxygen to tissues and its oxygen-carrying capacity.
    • In sickle cell anemia, the shape of the red blood cell is crescent-shaped, elongated, and stiffened, reducing its ability to deliver oxygen .
    • Individuals with sickle cell anemia have crescent-shaped red blood cells.

  • Medical Uses of Hematopoietic Growth Factors

    • Besides those on dialysis, erythropoietin is used most commonly to treat anemia in people with chronic kidney disease who are not on dialysis (those in stage 3 or 4 CKD) and those living with a kidney transplant.
    • Erythropoietin is a glycoprotein hormone that controls erythropoiesis (RBC production) and is used to treat anemia resulting from chronic kidney disease and myelodysplasia resulting from the treatment of cancer.

  • Heart Failure

    • This can occur from severe anemia, Gram negative septicaemia, beriberi (vitamin B1/thiamine deficiency), thyrotoxicosis, Paget's disease (a bone disease that puts strain upon the heart), arteriovenous fistulae, or arteriovenous malformations.
    • Reversible causes of the heart failure also need to be addressed: (e.g. infection, alcohol ingestion, anemia, thyrotoxicosis, arrhythmia, hypertension).

  • Babesiosis

    • The more severe cases are plagued with high fevers, shaking chills, and severe anemia, similar to symptoms seen in individuals infected with malaria.
    • This asexual process results in hemolytic anemia.