Distribution of Haemoglobin in Patients Presenting to Their General Practitioner, and its Correlation with Serum Ferritin

Abstract

We have conducted a survey in the United Kingdom in order to evaluate the prevalence of anaemia and of iron deficiency in elderly male and female patients and in female patients of child-bearing age presenting to their general practitioner. Although haemoglobin values were approximately normally distributed, there was evidence of a bimodal distribution of serum ferritin values, particularly in elderly men. A correlation between serum ferritin and haemoglobin values was found to exist, both in the elderly and in younger women. The overall prevalence of anaemia in the study population was 14·3%, although it was higher for elderly men (20·1%) than either elderly women (13·7%) or women of child-bearing age (11·9%). Iron deficiency associated with anaemia was more common in elderly men (45·2% of those anaemic) than elderly women (28·6%) or women of child-bearing age (25·6%). This survey indicates that the prevalence of anaemia among certain groups of high risk patients presenting for consultation to their general practitioner is about 1 in 7, although the prevalence is as high as 1 in 5 in elderly men.