A Hospital-Based Study to Determine the Specific Aetiology of Microcytic Anemia: an Observational Study

Description

Abstract (English)

Abstract
Aim: To determine the specific cause of microcytic anemia in a tertiary care hospital.
Material and Methods: This study was conducted in the Department of pathology, ANMMCH, Gaya, Bihar,
India from August 2019 to July 2020. Total 100 Cases of microcytic hypochromic anemias were taken from
Outpatient Department and indoor. After taking written consent from all patient’s workup was done according to
seems etiology. The study was approved by the ethical committee of the institute. Age >18-year and Patient of
microcytic hypochromic Anemia were included in this study.
Results: The etiological distribution of microcytic hypochromic anemia in the studied population revealed that
iron deficiency anemia (IDA) was the most prevalent, affecting 61% of the participants. Anemia of chronic disease
(AOCD) accounted for 28% of the cases, while thalassemia was identified in 11% of the subjects. Among the
cases of AOCD, tuberculosis was the leading cause, responsible for 39.29% of the cases. This was followed by
chronic kidney disease (10.71%), systemic lupus erythematosus (10.71%), rheumatoid arthritis (7.14%), diabetes
mellitus (7.14%), multiple myeloma (7.14%), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (3.57%), non-Hodgkin lymphoma
(3.57%), Hodgkin lymphoma (3.57%), lung carcinoma (3.57%), and Crohn's disease (3.57%). In the thalassemia
group, the majority were diagnosed with thalassemia trait, which constituted 81.8% of the cases. Delta B
thalassemia and double heterozygote HBE and B-thalassemia each accounted for 9% of the cases. The mean
corpuscular indices revealed significant differences among the groups. The mean corpuscular volume (MCV) was
highest in the IDA group (24.2115±7.25806 fL), followed by AOCD (15.5786±2.49345 fL), and lowest in
thalassemia (13.5073±3.30384 fL) with a p-value of <0.001. The red cell distribution width (RDW) was
significantly higher in IDA (19.466±1.9141%) compared to AOCD (15.650±1.3304%) and thalassemia
(15.409±1.0222%) with a p-value of <0.001.
Conclusion: Anemia is not an illness in and of itself, but rather a symptom of another, hence finding the underlying cause is significantly more important. People suffering from chronic illnesses, which form a large group as
a result of nutritional insufficiency and anaemia from chronic diseases, can be avoided to some extent by the
ongoing and uninterrupted implementation of anti-tuberculosis programmes in third-world countries such as India.