Evaluation of anaemia in geriatric patients: a retrospective hospital based study from Northern Sri Lanka

Abstract Background:Anaemia in elderly is a common medical problem but it is often not evaluated as a sole clinical entity and the importance of anaemia is often neglected. The gravity of anaemia in elders and its impact on other diseases is not well known in Sri Lanka.Methods:It is a cross sectional descriptive study where data was extracted retrospectively from the data base and clinical records of patients who were referred to haematology unit of Teaching Hospital Jaffna, Sri Lanka for the evaluation of anaemia during September 2020 to February 2021.Common type of anaemia, severity, aetiological classifications and association with other diseases were analysed.Results:A total of 1121 elderly patients of above 60 years were analysed during the study period. Main source of referral was from medical wards. Female to male ratio was 51.2:48.8. Majority of them belonged to the age group of 60-69 years. Two third of the patients had normocytic anaemia (70.3%) followed by microcytic and macrocytic anaemia (23.7%). Moderate degree of anaemia was seen commonly in the patient’s analysed but 28.3% found to have severe anaemia. Aetiological classification revealed anaemia of chronic diseases as the commonest type of anaemia in elderly accounting for 37% followed by multifactorial aetiology and iron deficiency anaemia. Common chronic diseases identified along with anaemia were diabetes, hypertension, ischaemic heart disease and chronic kidney disease.Conclusion:Normocytic anaemia is the commonest type of anaemia identified in this hospital based study and majority had a moderate degree of anaemia. Though the common aetiological cause identified is anaemia of chronic disease, there are significant percentage of multifactorial causes identified indicating a search of many possible causes are needed in elderly patients with anaemia. Identifying the prevalence of anaemia in all hospitalised elderly patients in the local setting, the causes and the impact on chronic and acute illnesses will immensely help in the management of elderly patients and to improve their quality of life.