[Etiologyical Analysis of 133 Patients with Elderly Macrocytic Anemia and Diagnostic Significance of Laboratory Tests].

OBJECTIVE

To study the etiology of macrocytic anemia in elderly patients and to evaluate the diagnostic significance of laborotory tests.

METHODS

133 elderly macrocytic anemia patients, whose age>60 years old, hemoglobin<100 g/L, mean red cell volume(MCV)>100 fL, and bone marrow cell test was performed, and these patients were grouped according to diseases, and the bilirubin, lactate dehydrogenase, folic acid, vit B12 and serum ferritin were tested, then the results of tests were compared and analyzed.

RESULTS

The majority of the cases were diagnosed as megaloblastic anemia (MA), myelodysplasia syndrome (MDS), acute leukemia/multiple myeloma (AL/MM) and hemolytic anemia (HA). Usually HA was a simple anemia, while others were accompanied by decrease of other 1 or 2 series. HA patients were often with significant high level of well volume (MCV), red cell distribution width(RDW), reticulocytes (RC) and indirect bilirubin (IBIL) (P<0.01). However, MA patients were often with high level of LDH. Serum ferritin (SF) level was significantly higher in both MDS and AL/MM groups (P<0.01).

CONCLUSION

Common causes of macrocytic anemia in elderly patients are MA, MDS, AL/MM and HA. The combination detection of MCV, RDW, RC, LDH, IBIL and SF contributes to enhancing the accuracy of diagnosis.