Anaemia associated with higher risk of death in the elderly

Healthcare News
25/10/2005
Elderly people who have extra low haemoglobin concentrations are at an increased risk of death, according to a new study.

Elderly people who have extra low haemoglobin concentrations are at an increased risk of death, according to a new study.

Published in the Archives of Internal Medicine the study revealed that lower haemoglobin concentrations or anaemia were associated with increased mortality risk in the elderly.

Neil A. Zakai, M.D, from the University of Vermont College of Medicine compared the relationship between haemoglobin, (the component of red blood cells that carry oxygen) and anaemia status, with a person's subsequent death over an 11-year period.

Study participants were contacted biannually from 1989 and clinic examinations were conducted. If deaths occurred they were reviewed and classified as cardiovascular or non-cardiovascular.

Based on the World Health Organisation (WHO) criteria for anaemia, 498 individuals were anaemic at the start of the study. The prevalence of anaemia was seven per cent among white and 17.6 per cent among black individuals.

Writing in the Archives Mr Zakai said: "After 11.2 years of follow-up, lower haemoglobin concentrations were associated with increased mortality risk, independent of many potentially confounding factors."

Mr Zakai suggested that future research should explore the possibility of whether treatment for low haemoglobin levels in the general population would decrease mortality levels.