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Anemia - chronic disease   

Overview | Treatment | Prevention

Alternative names:

Anemia of inflammation

Definition:

An anemia which develops as a result of extended infection or inflammation.

Causes and Risks

Certain chronic infections and inflammatory diseases cause several changes in the blood production (hematopoietic) system. These include a slightly shortened red blood cell life span and sequestration of iron in inflammatory cells called macrophages, resulting in a decrease in the amount of iron that is available to make red blood cells. In the presence of these effects a low to moderate grade anemia develops. The symptoms of the anemia may go unnoticed in the face of the primary disease.

Conditions associated with the anemia of infection and chronic inflammatory diseases include such diverse diseases as chronic bacterial endocarditis, osteomyelitis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatic fever, Crohn’s disease, and ulcerative colitis. Chronic renal failure may produce a similar anemia because it causes reduced levels of erythropoietin, the hormone which stimulates the production of red blood cells in the bone marrow.

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