Common questions about anemia in children

Anemia is caused by various conditions and diseases. What are the most common causes?

The biggest category of anemia is nutritional anemia, especially iron deficiency, and deficiency of folic acid or vitamin B12. The main cause is bleeding from the digestive tract. Chronic diseases that have an inflammatory component, such as rheumatoid arthritis, can also trigger anemia.

In addition, anemia can be caused by cancer or a side effect of cancer treatment. Another fairly common cause is a deficiency of erythropoietin or Epo, a hormone that stimulates the production of red blood cells. This condition is often experienced by patients with kidney disease.

Many of the symptoms of anemia are similar in characteristics to being tired and overworked. How to distinguish between fatigue and anemia?

The two conditions are indistinguishable. Like the usual symptoms of fatigue, anemia causes weakness and difficulty thinking clearly.

However, do not underestimate it if you experience these symptoms for a long time to interfere with normal activities. Immediately consult a doctor for a more accurate diagnosis. The initial test starts with a test for the levels of hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen in red blood cells, to detect whether the symptoms are anemia.

What is the limit of the hemoglobin level that indicates a person has anemia?

There are no definite rules governing a normal hemoglobin level. But in general, doctors use the World Health Organization (WHO) benchmark size. A hemoglobin level <13 for men and <12 for women was considered anemia.

Malnutrition is a common cause of anemia. Is it true that disease or poor diet is the trigger?

Bleeding is one of the main causes of iron deficiency. The reason is, you will lose red blood cells that contain iron when you bleed. In addition, iron deficiency that commonly affects pregnant women and children is triggered by an unbalanced food intake.

Nutritional iron deficiency is one of the leading causes of anemia worldwide and is a serious problem in several US states. In comparison, iron deficiency cases were more common than folate or vitamin B12 deficiency cases.

How do anemic patients carry out their daily activities?

One of the things that needs to be learned is the body's ability to adapt. Over time, people who develop anemia severe enough are able to say, "It's not as bad as it looks, really.”

As activities become more limited than before, their lifestyle will slowly change. Instead of going shopping once a week, they might choose to go out once a month and buy everything they need right away. The reason is, they are too tired to go back and forth shopping too often. There are more cases of adaptation that occur in people with anemia.

Is anemia life threatening?

A: The only case of anemia that is life-threatening is heavy bleeding, although chronic anemia is also indirectly dangerous if it is prolonged. Chronic anemia can force the heart to work so hard that it causes life-threatening heart failure. Based on these facts, anemia can indeed cause serious illness and death.

Is a red blood cell transfusion safer than using drugs?

For those of you who want to raise your hemoglobin level, the drug is much simpler and has fewer side effects if the dose is correct. Meanwhile, through a transfusion, you have the risk of infectious diseases and other problems.

Are there lifestyle measures, such as diet or exercise, that can treat anemia?

In chronic conditions, there is very little you can do, except in the case of nutritional anemia, you just need to increase your intake of nutrients. Perhaps the only thing you can do is go to higher ground because there is less oxygen there.

In an environment that provides less oxygen, the cells will stimulate EPO to make more red blood cells. People with chronic disease have slightly higher hemoglobin when they live at high altitudes for some time.