Anemia

Anemia refers to a deficiency of red blood cells and/or hemoglobin. This results in a reduced ability of blood to transfer oxygen to the tissues, causing hypoxia; since all human cells depend on oxygen for survival, varying degrees of anemia can have a wide range of clinical consequences. Hemoglobin has to be present to ensure adequate oxygenation of all body tissues and organs.

The three main classes of anemia include excessive blood loss, excessive blood cell destruction or deficient red blood cell production. In menstruating women, dietary iron deficiency is a common cause of deficient red blood cell production.

Anemia is the most common disorder of the blood. There are several kinds of anemia, produced by a variety of underlying causes. Anemia can be classified in a variety of ways, based on the morphology of RBCs, underlying etiologic mechanisms, and discernible clinical spectra, to mention a few.

There are two major approaches of classifying anemias, the "kinetic" approach which involves evaluating production, destruction and loss, and the "morphologic" approach which groups anemia by red blood cell size. The morphologic approach uses a quickly available and cheap lab test as its starting point. On the other hand, focusing early on the question of production may allow the clinician more rapidly to expose cases where multiple causes of anemia coexist.

...More at Wikipedia

Related Links:

• US National Library of Medicine
• Mayo Clinic

Recent Hope Cube Blog Entries For Anemia

• RBC Fri, November 30, 2007 - [view]
  RBC is a blood particale. Its allso called by "Red Blood Cell" Number of RBC tell the condition of Anemia.Anemia is the most common disorder of the blood. Anemia can be classified in a variety of ways, based on the morphology of RBCs, underlying etiologic mechanisms, and discernible clinical spectra, to mention a few.Anemia refers to a deficiency of red blood cells and/or hemoglobin.
• tired Sat, November 10, 2007 - [view]
  today i collapsed AGAIN at home thank god my brother rushed me to hostpital im bak at home now but im still a bit sleepy though