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Editorial
. 2019 Mar;104(3):417-419.
doi: 10.3324/haematol.2018.208066.

Anemia and adverse outcomes in the elderly: a detrimental inflammatory loop?

Domenico Girelli  1 , Fabiana Busti  1
Affiliations
Editorial

Anemia and adverse outcomes in the elderly: a detrimental inflammatory loop?

Domenico Girelli et al. Haematologica. 2019 Mar.
No abstract available

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
The complex relationship among aging, inflammation, and anemia. Clonal hematopoiesis and “inflammaging” are increasingly recognized as age-related conditions (see the text). Both are able to induce a mild chronic pro-inflammatory status, and can influence each other in a vicious circle. For example, chronic inflammation in the bone marrow can favor the development of somatic mutations in hematopoietic stem cells (dotted arrow). Clonal hematopoiesis and “inflammaging” are plausible explanations for at least a fraction of unexplained anemia in the elderly, likely through mechanisms similar to those involved in the pathophysiology of the classical anemia of overt inflammation. It is worth noting that clonal hematopoiesis is also able to induce anemia because of ineffective erythropoiesis. When cytopenia occurs in association with clonal hematopoiesis, it is termed clonal cytopenia of undetermined significance. Anemia in the elderly is strongly and independently associated with adverse outcomes, but whether or not this relationship is actually causal remains to be demonstrated. CV: cardiovascular; CCUS: clonal cytopenia of undetermined significance.
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Comment on

References

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