Diagnostic approach to anemia in adults - UpToDate

INTRODUCTION Evaluation for anemia is one of the most common problems in clinical practice. The evaluation may be straightforward in an otherwise healthy individual with a single cause of anemia, but in many cases the cause is not readily apparent and multiple conditions may be contributing. An approach to the evaluation of the adult with anemia is presented here. Diagnosis of specific conditions is discussed in separate topic reviews referenced below. Evaluation of anemia in children is discussed separately. (See "Approach to the child with anemia".) BASIC PRINCIPLES Anemia definitions — Anemia is defined for patient care as a reduction in one or more of the major red blood cell (RBC) measurements obtained as a part of the complete blood count (CBC): hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit, or RBC count. A low hemoglobin concentration and/or low hematocrit are the parameters most widely used to diagnose anemia, with the following cutoffs (table 1): ● Females – Hemoglobin <11.9 g/dL (119

INTRODUCTION Evaluation for anemia is one of the most common problems in clinical practice. The evaluation may be straightforward in an otherwise healthy individual with a single cause of anemia, but in many cases the cause is not readily apparent and multiple conditions may be contributing. An approach to the evaluation of the adult with anemia is presented here. Diagnosis of specific conditions is discussed in separate topic reviews referenced below. Evaluation of anemia in children is discussed separately. (See "Approach to the child with anemia".) BASIC PRINCIPLES Anemia definitions — Anem