Understanding Late Life Anemia

在老年人中，随着年龄的增长，贫血的发生频率越来越高。与发生在年轻人的贫血不同，老年人贫血的原因往往不容易明显或归因于单一原因。然而，这种在老年人中常见的贫血形式（称为不明原因贫血或UA）通常可以被解剖到其根本原因，包括肾功能不全、炎症、睾酮缺乏和干细胞增殖能力下降。骨髓增生异常（MDS）常见于这一年龄组，但从诊断和治疗的角度考虑，可以而且应该与UA区分开来。

Among the elderly, anemia occurs with increasing frequency with each advancing decade. Unlike when anemia occurs in younger adults, the cause of anemia in the elderly is oftentimes not readily apparent or attributable to a single cause. However, this commonly observed form of anemia in the elderly (termed Unexplained Anemia or UA) can generally be dissected to its root causes, which include renal insufficiency, inflammation, testosterone deficiency and stem cell proliferative decline. Myelodysplasia (MDS) occurs commonly in this age group but can and should, for both diagnostic and therapeutic considerations, be distinguished from UA. This research involves a comprehensive assessment of the mechanisms involved in the development of anemia in unselected patients and the functional consequences of anemia with regard to physical performance and quality of life. From this analysis strategies will be developed to assess whether correction of anemia will result in improvement in these (or other) selected parameters.