Chronic anaemia is associated with symptoms such as fatigue, dyspnoea, tachycardia, hypotension, low body temperature and enlarged spleen.19,20 If left untreated chronic anaemia can cause many health problems such as heart complications and failure, due to a rapid or irregular heartbeat, cognitive impairment, renal failure and even death from life-threatening complications.21
The impact of anaemia on health-related quality of life has been studied in different populations of patients with a range of haematological disorders. In these studies, anaemia was associated with a reduced health-related quality of life with severe fatigue being the main symptom affecting a patient.22-25 Patients with chronic anaemia may also experience depression and have increasing reliance on caregivers.26
The production of haemoglobin is frequently reduced in haematological diseases. Since the majority of iron transported into erythroblasts is normally incorporated into haem, reduced production of haem can lead to a build-up of excess iron in the erythroid cells.18 Additionally, haemoglobin shortage in the body is compensated for by increased intestinal iron uptake. The combination of reduced haemoglobin levels and build-up of iron leads to iron overload. Iron overload may cause deposition of excess iron in organs resulting in endocrinopathies, diabetes, and liver and cardiac damage.27,28
Please see Normal and ineffective erythropoiesis for further details