Overall, anemia is twice as prevalent in females as in males. This difference is significantly greater during the childbearing years due to pregnancies and menses.
Approximately 65% of body iron is incorporated into circulating Hb. One gram of Hb contains 3.46 mg of iron (1 mL of blood with an Hb concentration of 15 g/dL = 0.5 mg of iron). Each healthy pregnancy depletes the mother of approximately 500 mg of iron. While a man must absorb about 1 mg of iron to maintain equilibrium, a premenopausal woman must absorb an average of 2 mg daily. Further, because women eat less food than men, they must be more than twice as efficient as men in the absorption of iron to avoid iron deficiency.
Women have a markedly lower incidence of X-linked anemias, such as G-6-PD deficiency and sex-linked sideroblastic anemias, than men do. In addition, in the younger age groups, males have a higher incidence of acute anemia from traumatic causes.
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Anemia. Decreased production of red blood cells is suggested in certain patients with anemia. Bone marrow biopsy specimen allows categorization of patients with anemia without evidence of blood loss or hemolysis into 3 groups: aplastic or hypoplastic disorder, hyperplastic disorder, or infiltration disorder. Each category and its associated causes are listed in this image.
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Microcytic anemia.
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Peripheral smear showing classic spherocytes with loss of central pallor in the erythrocytes.
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Bone marrow aspirate containing increased numbers of plasma cells.
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Bone marrow aspirate showing erythroid hyperplasia and many binucleated erythroid precursors.
