The prevalence of anemia in elderly patients: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Introduction: As the elderly population continues to increase, physiological changes and pathological conditions in old age have started to attract more attention. Anemia is a common public health problem in both developed and developing countries. Many studies have emphasized the negative effects of anemia on poor physical performance, susceptibility to falls, impaired cognitive function and death in the elderly. Considering the classification of anemia, a substantial amount of unexplained anemia in the elderly population raises the question of whether this is a natural consequence of aging. Our aim in this study is to reveal the frequency of anemia in the geriatric population and to classification.
 Material and Method: This retrospective cohort study was conducted with the evaluation of patients admitted to the internal medicine outpatient clinic of a secondary state hospital in Ankara. All patients over the age of 65 who applied to the internal medicine outpatient clinic with different complaints between December 2020 and September 2021 and had a hemogram test were evaluated for eligibility for the study. 
 Results: Anemia was present in 103 of 1210 patients over 65 years of age included in our study. In our study group, the frequency of anemia was 8.5%. The median age of patients with anemia was 73 (65-93) years, and 60.1% (n=62) of these patients were women. The number of patients with at least one comorbidity was 74 (71.8%). The most common type of anemia in patients with anemia was iron deficiency anemia (n=47, 45.6%). Anemia of chronic disease (n=16, 15.5%) was the second most common anemia, and anemia due to vitamin b12 deficiency (n=4, 3.8%) and folic acid deficiency (n=3, 2.9%) was less common. The rate of unexplained anemia was 27.2% (n=28).
 Conclusion: It was revealed in our study that anemia is a common health problem in elderly patients in our society, and that unexplained anemia can be seen at a substantial rate. The prevalence of anemia of approximately 10% in our study gives the message that anemia is an important public health problem for the elderly population and that health care providers should be careful in terms of preventive and therapeutic measures.