Causes of Anemia
Defined as a decrease in RBCs’ mass, anemia is a symptom of disease that requires investigation to determine the underlying etiology. There are three major causes of anemia:
- Excessive loss of RBCs that seen following trauma or in women during their reproductive years.
- Abnormally rapid destruction of RBCs within the body (hemolysis) that exceeds the replacement ability of bone marrow.
- Deficient RBCs production (ineffective hematopoiesis) due to inadequate intake or poor utilization of dietary iron as seen in malnutrition or helminth (hookworm) infestations.
Other significant causes of anemia include nutritional deficiencies other than iron deficiency (folic acid and vitamin B12 deficiencies), genetic conditions (thalassemia, sickle cell anemia (SCA) or hemoglobinopathies), factors related to reproduction (obstetric complications, gynecological disorders), chronic diseases and malignancies (kidney disease or neoplasia), infections (HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, hepatitis and malaria) and drug or chemical induced anemia. The anemia that accompanies infection, inflammation and cancer is commonly termed as ACD.1
Written by: Healthplus24 team
Date last updated: January 05, 2010
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