Haematology & OncologyPending review
Iron-Deficiency Anaemia
Anaemia arising when iron intake or absorption fails to match losses or demand, so haemoglobin synthesis fails first and red cells emerge small and pale, and in an adult the default assumption is chronic blood loss until a source is found.
First principles
Iron is the rate-limiting ingredient for haemoglobin, so a shortage shrinks the cell before it starves the body
Iron sits at the centre of the haem molecule that carries oxygen. When iron supply cannot keep pace with demand, developing red cell precursors keep dividing but cannot pack each cell with the usual quota of haemoglobin, so cells emerge smaller (microcytic) and paler (hypochromic) than normal. The anaemia is therefore a direct read-out of a failed manufacturing step, not simply 'too few red cells'.
Educational content pending clinical review. Not medical advice.