Anemia - chronic disease

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Blood cells

Anemia - chronic disease

Definition:

Chronic anemia develops as a result of extended infection or inflammation.

Alternative Names:
Anemia of inflammation
Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

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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 an isolation of iron in inflammatory cells (macrophages) that result in a decrease in the amount of iron 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 the following:

Chronic renal failure may produce a similar anemia because it causes reduced levels of erythropoietin, the hormone that stimulates the production of red blood cells in the bone marrow.

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