BACKGROUND Even though ageing is considered as a natural process, various complex impairments and diseases can occur in many elderly people. Anaemia is common in elderly and its prevalence increases with age. In elderly population, anaemia is not to be considered as an age related change, as anaemia can never be a normal physiological phenomenon. There is an increased incidence of morbidity and mortality in patients with anaemia. In order to highlight this problem, we evaluated anaemia in

more »

... y population coming to clinical pathology department for various medical ailments. MATERIALS AND METHODS After taking informed written consent, patients were subjected to a detailed history, thorough clinical examination and various relevant investigations including bone marrow examination, radiological studies and endoscopic biopsies. RESULTS Out of the 1000 patients, 644 patients were male and 366 patients were female. Maximum number of patients (440) were in the age group 60-69 years. 500 cases were evaluated for the cause of anaemia. Among all the patients (irrespective of age groups and types of anaemia), anaemia of chronic disease was found to be most common (48.9) followed by nutritional anaemia (19.1%), and malignancies and haemorrhage. CONCLUSION Prevalence of anaemia is very high in our population compared to other studies. It is important that older persons with anaemia receive adequate attention in clinical practice and not to be considered as a part of normal ageing. This study clearly points out the significance of detailed investigations in these patients.