The prevalence of anemia, a common multifactorial condition in the elderly increases with age. Anemia is an critical health problem among the elderly population. A previous study in the United States of America and Europe by Patel., et al. (2008) demonstrated the prevalence rates of anemia ranging from 8% to 25%. The third United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) demonstrated that 11% of men and 10.2% of women more than 65 years of age were anemic, respectively. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that iron deficiency with estimated one billion people affected, is most common and widespread nutritional disorder, globally. Around one-third of the cases of anemia in the elderly people is due to nutrient deficiencies (iron, B12, and folate). Approximately, 30% to 50% of the elderly individuals with anemia have multiple causes of anemia. Iron deficiency is the only nutrient deficiency that affects the large number of children and young women in developing countries in additional to the significant prevalence in industrialized countries. Physiologically, the total body iron amount (approximately 3-4 grams) is maintained by a fine balance between three illustrious factors: 1) iron supply, 2) body requirement, and 3) blood losses. Gastrointestinal malabsorption, increased blood losses, and insufficient dietary iron intake are the most common causes of iron deficiency in the elderly persons, whereas an increased iron demand is the main cause of iron deficiency in children and fertile females. Chronic gastrointestinal diseases, for examples : esophagitis, peptic ulcer, gastritis, colonic cancer or pre-malignant polyps, inflammatory bowel disease or angiodysplasia are nearly always the cause of iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia the elderly.

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Citation

Citation: Attapon Cheepsattayakorn., et al. “Assessment of Iron Status and Iron Deficiency in the Elderly Population".Acta Scientific Nutritional Health 4.2 (2020): 01.

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Copyright: © 2020 Attapon Cheepsattayakorn., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.