J Korean Soc Emerg Med.
2007 Oct;18(5):394-398.
Unrecognized Anemia in Emergency Department
- Affiliations
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- 1Department of Emergency Medicine, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. yhkwak@snuh.org
Abstract
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PURPOSE: The objective of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of unrecognized iron deficiency anemia (IDA) among young children in emergency department (ED) who received a complete blood count (CBC) profile as a routine diagnostic test.
METHODS
A retrospective review was performed on children 6 to 24 months of age seen in an ED between March 2006 and October 2006 who had a complete blood count ordered as a part of their care. Those who had hematooncologic problems such as leukemia and/or were already on iron therapy were excluded. Anemia was defined as erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume (MCV) <70 fL, or hemoglobin (Hb) <11 g/dL, or hematocrit <30%.
RESULTS
A total of 240 children were included, most of whom had a CBC done in order to evaluate his/her infectious condition. Of these, 20(8.3%) had anemia as assessed by low Hb, 15(6.3%) by low MCV, and 5(2.1%) by low hematocrit. There was no documentation in the charts of these 20 children of iron supplement or outpatient follow-up. Telephone interviews with their parents revealed that they received no significant medical advice for anemia from physician.
CONCLUSION
Our results showed that the prevalence of unrecognized anemia in young children who have had CBC at ED was significant and that opportunities to detect anemia were largely missed because of physicians' ignorance. It indicates that physician working at ED should pay more attention to the possibility of undiagnosed anemia.
