Anemia In Males Research Articles

Studies on the Anaemia of Women in Agricultural Districts

Anemia in the inhabitants of the agricultural districts involves more serious problems in females than in males. Having established mass anemia screening method, the author made mass anemia screening in two districts in Chiba Prefecture and two districts in Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan, to elucidate the current status of anemia in women in the agricultural district. The results were as follows:1. In the collective anemia screening, the laboratory tests of the hemoglobin level, hema-tocrit value, specific gravity of blood and serum protein level sufficed. The determination of the hemoglobin level proved of particular importance.2. The hemoglobin levels lower than 12.Og/dl could be employed as one of the criteria for diagnosing anemia in housewives. It was found necessary to further examine the currently employed criteria for other laboratory test items (namely, hematocrit value, specific gravity of blood and serum iron) . The results obtained by the author indicated that the serum iron of less than 7Oμg/dl would be more adequate as a criterion for dia-gnosing anemia.3. The screening was made on about 600 housewives in the said agricultural districts, and the mean values of the laboratory tests performed were as follows: hemoglobin, 13.36± 1.47g/dl; specific gravity of blood, 1.0543±0.0031; hematocrit, 41.58±3.87%; serum iron, 94.48±35.85mg/dl; serum protein, 7.50±0.49g/dl.4. The incidence of the hemoglobin levels less than 12.Og/dl varied from district to district, but remained in the range from 11.4 to 25.2%.5. In the Ikawa district of Shizuoka City, anemia screening was made once a year, every year, for four years. The results revealed that the incidence of anemia in males was very low, and that it was in housewives that anemia would cause problems in the agricultural district. Analysis of the findings in the housewives in the said district elucidated that the incidence of anemia in them was related to their income or the intakes of nutrients.6. The tests of the serum iron and the iron-binding capacity of serum led to a conclusion that it was iron deficiency anemia that was found in the housewives.7. It was disclosed that the causes of iron deficiency anemia in the housewives were closely related to overworks and poor nutrition, but often associated with diseases such as anacidity and genital bleeding.8. It was further found that it would be possible to solve this problem of anemia in housewives in the agricultural district in Japan, by first discovering anemic housewives, and then giving them guidance from the standpoint of public health and approaching them from the medical standpoint. Problem for prevention of the anemia, it is, however, necessary to always give due consideration to the regional social and economic conditions .

Studies in anemia during the course of rheumatoid arthritis.

SummaryThe material is described in detail in an earlier article in this journal. The frequency of anemia in males and females in the beginning and the end of the observation period (5—10 years) was about the same as regards the Hb. but as far as the red blood cells are concerned oligocythemia was somewhat more common in the females in the beginning of the period than in the end. The correlation between the Hb. values between the beginning and the end of the period was for males +0.15 ± 0.06 (thus not altogether statistically significant) and for the females +0.18 ± 0.05 (significant). The correlations on different occasions between the E.S.R. on one hand and the Hb. percentages and the numbers of red blood cells on the other hand were analysed.An account is given of how various factors and signs influenced the Hb. in the beginning and the end of the observation period.

Idiopathic hypochromic anaemia in males.

From the series of cases which have been reported previously it seems that between 4 and 8% of cases of idiopathic hypochromic anaemia are males. Davies (1931) reported four cases in males out of 55 cases; Britton (1936) reported four cases in males out of 66 cases; and Wintrobe and Beebe (1933) reviewed a total of 498 cases, of which 18 were males. Other published series of cases in males include 26 cases reported by Burger and Witts (1934) and 10 cases by Thomson (1943). Two recent series of cases have consisted entirely of national service recruits. Shorthouse and King (1951) reported 20 cases among young recruits in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, and Leonard (1954) detected 47 cases by routine blood examination of 4,221 R.A.F. recruits. The incidence of idiopathic hypochromic anaemia of 1.1 % among these R.A.F. recruits suggests that this condition may be more common than has been indicated by the small numbers attending hospital. The majority of case reports of idiopathic hypo chromic anaemia in males have been by British workers. The prevalent opinion of American haematologists, how ever, is that idiopathic hypochromic anaemia does not occur in males. Heath and Patek (1937) and Wintrobe (1951) believe that hypochromic anaemia in males is almost always due to occult haemorrhage, and Moore (1950) thinks that there is no justification now for the term idiopathic because the cause of the anaemia is always evident. He believes that, while an inadequate diet and poor iron absorption frequently contribute to the pathogenesis of iron deficiency, they do not seem able to precipitate its development unless there is an increased iron loss from the body, and in his experi ence (1953, personal communication) he has been un able to find a male patient with hypochromic anaemia in whom careful study has revealed no evidence of haemorrhage. In view of this difference of opinion about the exist ence of idiopathic hypochromic anaemia in men, 11 further cases are reported, and the aetiology of the condition is discussed. Review of Cases

STUDIES IN SICKLE CELL ANEMIA

This survey of 1100 Negro children in various age categories was undertaken to determine the effect of age upon the appearance of the sickling phenomenon from infancy throughout childhood. The general incidence of sickling in 1100 Negro children including sickle cell anemia and sickle cell trait was 7.4%. The data on the incidence of the asymptomatic sickling trait and of sickle cell anemia are summarized by age and sex in Tables I and II. We encountered 22 cases of sickle anemia, seven of which were previously undiagnosed and unknown. Sixteen cases of sickle cell anemia in males and six in females were encountered in the total test group, comprising 651 males and 449 females. This investigation disclosed 60 subjects bearing the asymptomatic sickling trait. There were 40 and 20 instances of asymptomatic sickling observed in 635 males and 443 females, respectively. When the sexes were divided into two age categories (1 month through 4 years and 5 years through 16 years), there was an actual decrease in the incidence of sickling in the girls and an increase in the sickling phenomenon in the boys. We have no explanation for this finding. The overall incidence of the sickling trait for both sexes in all age groups represents no significant deviation from a 1:1 ratio. The data available from this study failed to disclose a definite progressive increase in the incidence of sickling in the age groups studied. Quantitatively the general transition from the low incidence of sickling in the newborn (3.4%) to the higher occurrence in older children (7.5%) apparently takes place during the first year of life. Additional studies of both a qualitative and quantitative nature and involving a detailed age breakdown during the first year of life would probably elucidate this period of transition.