Blood is a vital substance for human beings. As is known, there are red blood cells (red blood cells) in the blood. Iron, folic acid and vitamin B12 are very important for red blood cells. In the structure of these blood cells, there is a substance called 'hemoglobin', which ensures the transport of oxygen and makes these cells red. While breathing, the oxygen in the lungs is connected to the structure of this hemoglobin and transported to the targets. Anemia (colloquially known as 'anemia') is the condition in which the amount of hemoglobin falls below the criteria accepted by the world health organization according to age and gender. These values are considered to be below 13 g/dL in adult males and below 12 g/dL in females. Anemia is below 11 g/dL in children aged 6 months to 6 years, and below 12 g/dL at 6-14 years of age. The prevalence of anemia in the world is 30-40% in women and approximately 20% in men.
Anemia types include iron deficiency anemia, hemolytic anemia, megaloblastic anemia, genetic causes (thalassemia, sickle cell anemia, etc.). In this article, the most common 'iron deficiency anemia' will be based on. Iron deficiency anemia occurs as a result of low intake of iron from food or its absorption from the intestines. In this type of anemia, the red blood cells are smaller. The main causes of this anemia can be listed as follows:
Physiological blood losses (menstruation in women: approximately 30-80 ml loss per month)
Pathological blood losses (stomach, intestinal bleeding, etc.)
p>
Insufficient food intake (anorexia, cancer, weight loss efforts, etc.)
Insufficient absorption of iron from food (small bowel diseases, Celiac etc.)
Iron requirement increases during pregnancy The amount of iron taken remains constant, so even if there is sufficient storage iron, iron deficiency occurs in the mother over time. The baby will also be affected by this situation. Especially when the hemoglobin value falls below 9 g/dL, the risk of complications related to pregnancy increases. Celiac disease is one of the diseases that cause nutritional iron deficiency. Anemia occurs because the iron in foods cannot be processed as a result of the changes caused by the deterioration of the absorption surface of the small intestine. Iron deficiency anemia can also occur in people who donate blood. In menstruating women, this one-time donation of blood can lead to emptying of iron stores. The same situation may occur in an adult healthy male after giving blood at short intervals 3-4 times. The attitude of blood donation, which can be corrected by giving iron therapy when necessary, is an extremely vital issue. In this sense, adult healthy individuals should not hesitate to donate blood. On the other hand, the inability of vegetarian people who do not eat meat to get enough iron with food and insufficient iron absorption seen in some malabsorption diseases lead to a negative iron balance. Many weight loss diets are also poor in iron.
The most common clinical manifestations in iron deficiency anemia are weakness, fatigue, dizziness, pallor, palpitation, and easy fatigue. In acute bleeding, shock and unconsciousness may develop. Some patients experience soil or ash eating behavior (aka pica). Especially in deep anemia, there may be severe findings that impair the quality of daily life. We can use laboratory methods such as complete blood count, iron and iron binding capacity, ferritin, and peripheral smear in the diagnosis. Among the reasons mentioned above, colon cancer is a subject that should be kept in mind, especially in elderly patients. In these, there is slow and hidden blood loss from the tumor. Random treatments cause delays in the diagnosis of some important diseases. After the clinical signs and hematologic values due to anemia have returned to normal, it is necessary to continue the treatment for a certain period of time to fill the tanks. Oral or injected iron preparations are used in the treatment. Deep anemia may require blood transfusion.
Read: 0
