Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment Options

Mild anemia can have several causes, including iron or B12 deficiency, chronic illness, or pregnancy.

Mild anemia occurs when you have slightly lower than normal levels of hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout the body.

Anemia is very common, affecting up to one-third of the world’s population. In most cases, the condition is mild and symptomless, and medical treatment is unnecessary. However, if anemia continues to progress, it may become severe and affect your overall health.

Anemia can occur in all ages, sexes, and genders, but it’s more common in females of reproductive age, pregnant people, and older adults.

There are several possible causes of mild anemia, including:

• Iron deficiency: This is the most common cause of anemia. Iron is needed to produce hemoglobin, so when the body lacks iron, it can’t make enough hemoglobin, and iron deficiency anemia may develop.
• Vitamin deficiency: A lack of certain vitamins, such as vitamin B12 or folate, can lead to anemia. These vitamins are needed for red blood cell production.
• Chronic diseases: Chronic diseases such as kidney disease, liver disease, and inflammatory bowel disease can affect red blood cell production, leading to anemia.
• Blood loss: Blood loss from injury, surgery, or heavy menstrual bleeding can lead to anemia.
• Inherited conditions: Inherited conditions such as Diamond-Blackfan anemia or thalassemia can cause mild anemia.
• Pregnancy: During pregnancy, the body produces more blood to support the growing fetus. This increased blood volume can dilute the concentration of red blood cells, leading to mild anemia.
• Chronic conditions: Conditions such as HIV or hepatitis can interfere with red blood cell production, leading to anemia.
• Medications: Some medications, such as chemotherapy drugs or antiretroviral drugs used to treat HIV, can cause anemia as a side effect.

Mild anemia in pregnancy

During pregnancy, your body produces 40–60% more plasma to support the growing fetus. This increased blood volume can dilute the concentration of red blood cells, leading to a condition known as physiologic anemia, which occurs in pregnancy. Physiologic anemia is usually mild and doesn’t pose a significant risk to your or your baby’s health.

Iron deficiency anemia is also common in pregnancy and accounts for about 75% of all types of anemia during pregnancy. As your blood volume increases during pregnancy, your body also requires more iron to support the growing fetus.

If you have anemia during pregnancy, it’s important to differentiate between iron deficiency anemia, physiologic anemia, and other less common causes of anemia in pregnancy that may require treatment.

If anemia becomes more severe during pregnancy, it can increase the risk of anemia in the baby and blood loss during pregnancy. Be sure to attend regular checkups, and talk with your doctor if you’re displaying symptoms of mild anemia.

Mild anemia may not cause any symptoms, or the symptoms may be so mild that they go unnoticed. However, some people with mild anemia may experience:

• fatigue and weakness
• pale skin
• shortness of breath
• dizziness or lightheadedness
• headache
• cold hands and feet
• irregular heartbeat

These symptoms may be more noticeable during physical activity or when you’re under stress.

Is mild anemia harmful?

Mild anemia generally isn’t harmful and doesn’t typically cause long-term health concerns. However, it can lead to symptoms such as fatigue and weakness, which may affect your quality of life.

In some cases, mild anemia can progress to a more severe form if not managed or if the underlying cause isn’t addressed.

Was this helpful?

Treatment for mild anemia depends on the underlying cause.

If the anemia is caused by a deficiency in certain vitamins or minerals, such as iron, vitamin B12, or folate, increasing your intake of these nutrients through diet or supplements may be recommended.

In some cases, mild anemia can be corrected through changes in dietary habits alone. For instance, increasing the intake of iron-rich foods — such as red meat, poultry, fish, and leafy green vegetables — may help improve mild anemia caused by iron deficiency.

Learn more about getting more iron into your diet.

If the underlying cause is more complex, such as a chronic illness, further medical evaluation and treatment may be necessary. This may include medications to treat the underlying condition, such as inflammation or cancer, or procedures, such as blood transfusions.

In addition to medical treatment, lifestyle modifications may also help improve mild anemia. This may include increasing physical activity levels, reducing stress, and improving sleep habits.

Did you know?

Supplements can cause interactions with prescription medications you may already be taking. Always talk with your doctor about the appropriate timing for taking your medications and supplements.

Typically, it’s important to wait at least 2 hours after taking a fiber supplement before taking any other supplement or medication.

Was this helpful?

Here are some methods you may use to monitor anemia symptoms:

• Get regular blood tests: Blood tests can help doctors monitor the level of red blood cells and hemoglobin in your blood. Depending on the severity of your anemia, blood tests may be done every few weeks or months to track progress.
• Take supplements as recommended: If your healthcare team recommends iron supplements or other supplements, it’s important to take them as directed.
• Track your symptoms: Keeping a journal of symptoms, such as fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath, and dizziness, can help monitor the severity of your anemia symptoms over time.

• Periodic follow-up appointments: Depending on the underlying cause of anemia and the severity of your symptoms, periodic follow-up appointments with a healthcare professional may be necessary to monitor progress and adjust treatment as needed.
• Eat a nutritious, well-balanced diet: A diet that’s rich in iron, vitamin B12, and folate can help prevent anemia from getting worse. Good sources of iron include red meat, poultry, fish, beans, and dark green leafy vegetables.

Mild anemia occurs when your body doesn’t have enough red blood cells or hemoglobin to transport oxygen effectively to the body’s tissues.

While mild anemia may not always be a cause for immediate concern, it’s important to be aware of the symptoms and seek medical attention if necessary.

By understanding the causes and symptoms of mild anemia, you can take steps to manage the condition and improve your overall health and well-being.

Anemia in Children | Boston Children’s Hospital

How is anemia diagnosed?

The first step in treating your child is forming an accurate and complete diagnosis. Anemia is usually discovered during a medical exam through simple blood tests that measure the concentration of hemoglobin and the number of red blood cells. Diagnostic procedures to determine the underlying cause of the anemia may include:

• complete medical history and physical examination
• measurement of hematocrit — the percent of red blood cells found in a specific volume of blood
• hemoglobin electrophoresis to determine the amount and type of hemoglobin in the blood
• additional blood tests
• bone marrow aspiration and biopsy

There may be other diagnostic tests that your doctor will discuss with you depending on your child’s individual situation. After we complete all necessary tests, our experts meet to review and discuss what they have learned about your child’s condition. Then we will meet with you and your family to discuss the results and outline the best possible treatment options.

What are the treatments for anemia?

Depending on the specific cause of your child’s anemia, your child’s physician may recommend a variety of different treatments. Treatments for various forms of anemia may include:

• vitamin and mineral supplements
• change in your child’s diet
• medication and/or discontinuing causative medications
• treatment of the underlying disorder
• surgery to remove the spleen (if related to certain hemolytic anemias)
• blood transfusions, if necessary (to replace significant loss)
• antibiotics (as appropriate if infection is the cause)
• stem cell transplant (for bone marrow failure, such as aplastic anemia, Fanconi anemia, or Diamond-Blackfan anemia)

Our multidisciplinary team of doctors will help determine the best approach for your child’s unique situation, based on a number of factors including age and overall health, severity of the disease, and tolerance for certain medications or therapies.

What is the long-term outlook for children with anemia?

The long-term outlook for children with anemia depends on the specific cause. Some forms of anemia, such as a nutritional deficiency, can be treated quickly and don’t require significant long-term follow-up care.

In other cases, in which the anemia is caused by a genetic condition or other serious underlying disorder, your child may need regular follow-up by our hematologists. Your child’s physician can discuss your child’s specific care plan.

We have a number of resources at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s to help you and your family through this time. From the first visit through follow-up care, our nurses will be on hand to walk you through your child’s treatment and help answer any questions you may have. If you’d like to talk with someone whose child has been treated for anemia, we can put you in touch with other families who have been through the same experience that you and your child are facing.

How we care for anemia

Children and young adults with iron deficiency anemia receive treatment through Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, an integrated pediatric hematology and oncology partnership between Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital.

Our Blood Disorders Center brings together world-renowned pediatric hematology specialists and support staff from across Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s, including pediatric hematologists/oncologists, hematopathologists, hematology nurse practitioners, social workers, and designated hematology patient coordinators. For many appointments and certain procedures, your child can also receive care at one of the Boston Children’s Hospital satellite offices.

What is anemia and how to deal with it? – article on the site Aptechestvo, Nizhny Novgorod

What is anemia?

Anemia is a clinical and hematological syndrome that occurs due to various reasons. It is a pathological condition of the body caused by a low content of hemoglobin in the blood. Its main danger is that it complicates the transfer of oxygen to tissues and develops hypoxia or oxygen starvation. This is due to the fact that hemoglobin is part of the red blood cells and is involved in its transportation. This protein also promotes the utilization of carbon dioxide and helps deliver it to the lungs.

Anemia can be an independent disease, or it can accompany oncological and infectious diseases, ulcers, polyps, and helminthic invasions. The basis for diagnosis is a clinical blood test and patient complaints. To identify the causes of pathology, instrumental research methods are necessarily assigned. This helps to establish the presence of tumors and disorders of the internal organs.

Symptoms and degrees of anemia

The diagnosis is established when the hemoglobin content is below 130 g/l in men and less than 120 g/l in women. This is the main symptom of the disease. In children, the acceptable level of hemoglobin depends on age. The lower this indicator, the more severe the anemia of the degree, which is presented below:

• Light, Hb 120-95 g/l;

• Average, Hb 94-80 g/l;

• Severe, Hb 79-65 g/l;

• Life-threatening, Hb < 65 g/l.

Externally, anemia, the symptoms of which will be described below, manifests itself depending on the severity of the condition. The lower the hemoglobin values, the more pronounced the clinical picture. There are general signs of the disease that make up the anemic syndrome, and symptoms that characterize only specific types of the disease. Common include weakness, pallor, dizziness, fainting, shortness of breath, palpitations. In iron-deficient forms of the disease, fragility of nails, hair loss, burning of the tongue, changes in taste are added to them. The picture may be blurry with mild to moderate degrees.

Species

Depending on the causes, blood anemia is divided into the following types:

Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is the most common. It is caused by a lack of iron in the body in violation of the intake or absorption of this element.

Posthemorrhagic appearance occurs as a result of excessive blood loss. At the same time, hemoglobin sharply decreases, oxygen starvation and circulatory disorders occur.

With intensive destruction of red blood cells, when the bone marrow does not have time to replenish their number, hemolytic anemia develops.

The aplastic form of the disease is the result of a violation of hematopoiesis. This reduces the production of all blood cells, including red blood cells.

The pernicious variety occurs with disorders caused by a lack of vitamin B12.

Causes

Usually anemia, the causes of which are different, is provoked by the following factors:

• the nature of the diet;

• violation of hematopoiesis;

• chronic blood loss;

• violation of absorption processes.

Chronic blood loss occurs due to small but prolonged bleeding. They are observed with hemorrhoids, heavy menstruation, gastric ulcers, oncological diseases. This causes the depletion of iron stores, which is not replenished with the intake of food. The result is impaired hemoglobin production.

The occurrence of this pathology during pregnancy is caused by an increase in the need for trace elements and vitamins. Deficiency anemia usually develops in women. This is due to insufficient initial iron content in the body of the expectant mother.

The risk of developing the disease is exacerbated by demographic and social factors, which include low income, poor nutrition.

Treatment

Each anemia, the treatment of which is carried out in a complex, is treated depending on its type. The algorithm includes the following steps:

To find out the causes of chronic blood loss, consultations of narrow specialists are prescribed. Gastric, uterine and other bleedings are treated together with the underlying diseases.

With IDA, iron preparations and a diet rich in this element are prescribed. In pernicious anemia, injections of vitamin B12 and a diet containing it are used. In case of violation of iron absorption in the intestine, appropriate drug therapy is carried out. When hemoglobin drops to 50 g / l, blood transfusions are prescribed.

Diet alone cannot cure anemia. After all, the absorption of iron from food is not higher than 2.5 mg per day. Only an integrated approach helps not to mask the symptoms of the disease, but to cope with the causes of the syndrome.

Iron deficiency anemia – Humanitas

Iron deficiency anemia is a common type of anemia, a disease characterized by a lack of healthy red blood cells. Red blood cells carry oxygen to body tissues.

As the name suggests, iron deficiency anemia is caused by a lack of iron. Without enough iron, the body cannot produce enough hemoglobin, the substance found in red blood cells that enables them to carry oxygen. As a result, iron deficiency anemia develops, which can cause fatigue and difficulty breathing.

Iron supplements are usually prescribed to treat iron deficiency anemia. Sometimes iron deficiency anemia requires additional testing or treatment, especially if your doctor suspects internal bleeding.

Symptoms

At an early stage, iron deficiency anemia is mild and goes unnoticed. However, as iron deficiency worsens and anemia develops, signs and symptoms increase.

Possible symptoms of iron deficiency anemia are listed below:

• Severe weakness
• Pale skin
• Weakness
• Suffocation
• Chest pain
• Frequent infections
• Headache
• Dizziness or lightheadedness
• Cold hands and feet
• Inflammation or soreness of the tongue
• Brittle nails
• Palpitations
• Unusual desire to eat inedible substances such as ice, earth or starch.
• Poor appetite, especially in neonates and children with iron deficiency anemia
• Unpleasant tingling or tingling in the legs (restless leg syndrome)

Conditions for Seeking a Doctor

If you or your child has signs and symptoms that suggest iron deficiency anemia, you should see a doctor. Iron deficiency anemia should not be self-diagnosed or self-treated. You should see your doctor for a diagnosis, and do not take iron supplements without a doctor’s prescription. Overloading the body with iron can be dangerous, as the accumulation of excess iron can affect the liver and cause other complications.

Complications

Mild iron deficiency anemia usually causes no complications. However, without proper treatment, iron deficiency anemia can become severe and lead to other health problems, including:

Heart problems . Iron deficiency anemia can cause tachycardia or arrhythmia. In an anemic patient, the heart has to pump more blood to compensate for the lack of oxygen it can carry. This can lead to an enlarged heart or heart failure.
Disorders during pregnancy . In pregnant women, severe iron deficiency anemia can lead to preterm labor and low birth weight. However, pregnant women can prevent the condition by taking iron supplements as part of a pregnancy management program.