Common Causes of Anemia
Mechanism | Examples |
|---|---|
Chronic excessive bleeding | Cancer in the digestive tract Ulcers in the stomach or small intestine |
Sudden excessive bleeding | Injuries A ruptured blood vessel Surgery |
Decreased red blood cell production | Alcohol use disorder Aplastic anemia/ pure red blood cell aplasia Chronic inflammation, infection, or cancer (anemia of chronic disease) Metastatic cancer to bone marrow Myelodysplasia (abnormalities in bone marrow tissue) Myelofibrosis (scarring of the bone marrow) |
Increased red blood cell destruction | Autoimmune reactions against red blood cells Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency Hereditary elliptocytosis Hereditary spherocytosis Hereditary stomatocytosis Hereditary xerocytosis Mechanical damage to red blood cells (eg, heart valve-associated hemolysis (destruction of red blood cells), thrombotic microangiopathy (destruction of red blood cells, low platelets, and organ injury due to the formation of clots in the small blood vessels) Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria Sickle cell disease (hemoglobin SS disease, hemoglobin S-C disease, hemoglobin S-Beta thalassemia) Thalassemia (both decreased red cell production due to destruction of red cell precursors in bone marrow and increased red blood cell destruction in circulation) |