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Anaemia in the Elderly IBD Patient

  • Geriatrics (S Katz, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Treatment Options in Gastroenterology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Opinion statement

Anaemia is a common multifactorial extraintestinal manifestation in IBD patients. Moreover, anaemia represents an important health problem among the elderly population and has a significant impact on healthcare utilisation and costs. Data on the prevalence, diagnosis and management of anaemia in elderly IBD patients are scarce, since clinical trials have largely excluded this population. In this review, we reconsider anaemia in older IBD patients in the light of new diagnostic and therapeutic tools.

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Abbreviations

ACD:

Anaemia of chronic disease

CD:

Crohn’s disease

CHr:

Reticulocyte haemoglobin content

ESA:

Erythropoiesis-stimulating agent

Hb:

Haemoglobin

%HYPO:

Hypochromic red cells

IBD:

Inflammatory bowel disease

ID:

Iron deficiency

IDA:

Iron deficiency anaemia

RES:

Reticuloendothelial system

sTfR:

Soluble transferrin receptors

TfS:

Transferrin saturation

TIBC:

Total iron binding capacity

UC:

Ulcerative colitis

ZPP:

Zinc protoporphyrin

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Conflict of Interest

Jürgen Stein has received consultancy fees from Abbvie, Fresenius-Kabi, Immundiagnostik, MSD, Pharmacosmos, Takeda, and Vifor. Dr. Stein has also received payment for lectures from Abbvie, Falk Foundation, Ferring, Immundiagnostik, MSD, Pharmacosmos, Takeda, Thermofischer and Vifor. Additionally, Dr. Stein has received payment for manuscript preparation from Abbvie, Falk Foundation and MSD.

Axel U. Dignass has received consultancy fees from Abbott, MSD, Ferring, UCB, Otsuka, Roche/Genentech, Takeda, Pharmacosmos, Holystone Biotech and Falk Foundation. Dr. Dignass has also received grants from Institut für Gemeinwohl and Stiftung Leben mit Krebs as well as payment for lectures including service on speakers bureaus from Falk Foundation, Ferring, MSD, Abbott, Otsuka, Vifor, Stiftung Leben mit Krebs, Kompetenznetz CED, Takeda and Pharmacosmos. Additionally, Dr. Dignass has received payment for manuscript preparation from Falk Foundation and payment for development of education presentations from Abbott, Pharmacosmos, Falk Foundation and Ferring.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Correspondence to Jürgen Stein MD, PhD, FEBG.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Geriatrics

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Stein, J., Dignass, A.U. Anaemia in the Elderly IBD Patient. Curr Treat Options Gastro 13, 308–318 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11938-015-0062-y

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