Lower Hemoglobin Levels Correlate with Raised Mortality in Older People

Anemia is a lowered level of red blood cells and hemoglobin, leading to a diminished supply of oxygen to tissues and thus degraded function throughout the body. The anemia of aging, like all issues in later life, is a gradual onset, a sliding scale of dysfunction with an arbitrary line in the sand as how low hemoglobin must fall for it to be formally considered a medical condition. There are consequences prior to that point of course, as the study data here illustrates. The relationship between lower hemoglobin levels and higher mortality is linear. It is, however, an open question as to how much of this relates to downstream consequences of lower hemoglobin levels and how much is a case of individuals with a greater burden of molecular damage and dysfunction tending to have lower hemoglobin levels. An increase in life expectancy has emphasized anemia as a public health concern because of the associated healthcare needs and financial burden it incurs. Anemia is common among older adults with the estimated prevalence of 17% among individuals aged ≥65 years. A large cohort study has found that the prevalence of anemia increased with age from 4 to 6% in those aged 65-69 years to 13-14% in those aged ≥85 years. Anemia has been associated with a range of adverse events including falls, cognitive deficits, hospitalization, and mortality among older adults. Anemia has been defined as hemoglobin (HB) concentrations of less than 12.0 g/dL and 13.0 g/dL in women and...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs