Iron Deficiency Anemia

The main thing that should come across  when we think abt iron deficiency is the age bracket, because with that we could rule out iron def easily. So now i am abt to go thru different age bracket and relate to it. First -

A. Prematurity - Everyday a baby is not in utero, it is losing iron. Because all their iron stores are decreased, so a baby mush be given iron supplements. Thats why it is essential for pregnant women to intaken iron supplements too.

B. Newborn - For them, we should first check the stool for their blood, because need to know if its the moms blood or not, which can be swallowed. This is done with the apt test. you can look up apt test on wikipedia. Most of the time the blood that can be seen in babies meconium is that blood that babies swallowed from mom, and it has HbA in it [easy to differentiate with that]. However if it has HbF in it, then its the babies blood which could be due to bleeding Meckel's diverticulum. Therefore bleeding meckel's diverticulum is the main cause for iron deficiency anemia in newborn and children.

C. For women <50 - The main cause for iron deficency anemia is Menorrhagia. For this, a good history of her menustral cycle is needed. Like it could be due to irregular cycles or other reasons.

D. Men under <50 - The main common cause for iron deficiency anemia is PUD [ mainly duodenal ulcer].

E. Men/Women >50 - In this category the main reason for iron deficiency is Colon Cancer.

LAB value all this case -

serum Fe = low, TIBC = high, % sat’n (Fe/TIBC) = low, Ferritin = low