Anaemia in Elderly Patients at Kenyatta National Hospital
Abstract
The main objective of this work was to study
anaemia in elderly patients and hence contribute some
baseline data for future possible work in this area.
This prospective study covered 63 elderly
patients of all types of anaemia diagnosed at
Kenyatta National Hospital between September 1987 and
January 1988. Those cases admitted to this hospital
were further fully investigated and treated if they
did not die immediately. Then several clinicopathological
variables and biodata were analysed in
all the cases.
Anaemia was found to occur in about 11% of
elderly patients admitted and reviewed. The single
most common cause was iron deficiency, (34.9%) while
the majority of patients had anaemia which was
multifactorial in origin, with hookworm, systemic
disease and diet playing contributory roles.
Gastrointestinal diseases played an important
role while other systemic illnesses were not
prominent.
Effective management is beset with problems of
diagnosis, availability of blood and often drugs.
This study shows that anaemia is common in
elderly patients admitted to Kenyatta National
Hospital and contributes significantly to their
morbidity. There is an urgent need to do further
work into the contributions of different factors such
as hookworm and diet to anaemia in geriatric
patients, if ideal management specifically directed
towards this age group is to be achieved.
Citation
Masters of MedicinePublisher
University of Nairobi School of Medicine