Questions about anaemia
Common anaemia exam questions for doctors and medical students
How can causes of haemolysis be classified?
- Congenital or acquired
- Immune-mediated or non-immune mediated
- Intravascular or extravascular
What are the common causes of a microcytic anaemia?
- Overwhelmingly the most common is iron-deficiency
- Thalassaemia
- Sideroblastic anaemia
- Lead poisoning
What are the common causes of a macrocytic anaemia?
- B12 or folate deficiency
- Myelodysplastic syndrome
- Brisk bleeding or haemolysis
- Hypothyroidism and alcohol cause macrocytosis, but not typically anaemia
What are the common causes of normocytic anaemia?
- Renal failure
- Chronic inflammation
- Bone marrow failure
What proportion of the healthy population have a positive DAT?
- Approximately 5%, so a positive DAT is not evidence of haemolytic anaemia, in the absence of other findings such as a raised bilirubin, LDH and reticulocyte count.
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