title: The coloured elderly in Cape Town--a psychosocial, psychiatric and medical community survey. Part IV. Haematological values.
abstract: One hundred and fifty randomly selected individuals aged 65 years and over voluntarily participated in haematological studies which formed part of a comprehensive survey of the psychiatric and physical health of elderly Coloured persons in Cape Town. Complete haematological information was available for 139 of the respondents and showed that values for a standard profile of screening tests did not differ from those in groups of White subjects living in Cape Town or Western Europe or from those in subjects from the same ethnic group but aged between 20 and 60 years. In 16 cases (11,5%) the initial haematological studies showed some abnormality. In 7 subjects (5%) the total white cell counts were raised, in 4 they returned to normal and in 3 remained elevated with normal differential distributions of the cells; no explanation for this has been found. Three respondents (2%) had a raised mean cell volume attributable to alcoholism. Eight (6%) had hypochromic microcytic anaemia due to iron loss resulting from occult gastro-intestinal tract bleeding. In 1 case this was due to a hiatal hernia and in the remaining 7 to carcinoma. The study shows that in this population nutrition is generally satisfactory and emphasizes the importance of investigation to determine the cause of anaemia in the elderly.
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D000368:Aged; D000747:Anemia, Hypochromic / Q000453:epidemiology*; D044383:Black People; D001772:Blood Cell Count; D004909:Erythrocyte Indices; D005260:Female; D005293:Ferritins / Q000097:blood; D006400:Hematocrit; D006403:Hematologic Tests; D006801:Humans; D007501:Iron / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D013019:South Africa; D044465:White People
chemical_list: D005293:Ferritins; D007501:Iron