Causes of anaemia and the relationship of haemoglobin to age in the elderly

In older people, physiological changes have implications for their quality of life and facilitate or modify the expression or severity of their conditions. Compromised nutritional status in older adults also implies a risk of infections, falls and fractures, development of pressure ulcers, anaemia and decompensation of pre-existing chronic diseases. The presence of infections or other chronic diseases, together with the increasing presence of malignant neoplasms, are the most frequent causes of anaemia in the elderly. We report the determination of haemoglobin levels in a Cuban geriatric population under baseline conditions and its comparison with a group of young individuals, and identified the presence of anaemia and its causes in them. The average haemoglobin did not differ from the comparison group and 46.7% of the elderly were anaemic. The average haemoglobin level in the study population did not differ from the rest, although with increasing age the haemoglobin level decreased and the prevalence of anaemia increased.