80 year old male went to primary in Dec because a Dr. friend said he looked anemic, Hgb=11.0, Hct=32.5 in December, primary started him on 1 iron pill a day, same results in January, increased him to 2 pills a day, today Hgb=10.3, Hct=30.0, primary today increased iron pills from 2 to 3 per day and says she does know why levels are low
Hi thanks for your question. In 80-year-old some amount of anemia is expected, but you have to first rule out any pathological cause of anemia that is bleeding somewhere from gastrointestinal tract or occult malignancy some her in body. If any pathological cause of anemia is ruled out then some amount of anemia could be due to poor absorption of iron contained in food from intestine due to decreased blood supply which is normal process with age. Second reason could be decreased erythropoietin production from kidney (due to decreased blood supply) which stimulates the bone marrow to produce red blood cell (RBC) containing hemoglobin. Third and final physiological cause could be decreased RBC production by bone marrow. Again due to decrease blood supply to bone marrow. If iron is not absorbed from, increasing its dose will not improve hemoglobin. I would suggest you to get your friend examined by internal medicine specialist who may be able to evaluate your friend for cause of anemia and treat him accordingly Hope this answers your question.