Dyspepsia; frequency of common upper gastrointestinal endoscopic findings in elderly patients with iron deficiency anemia

ABSTRACT

The most common single cause of anemia worldwide is Iron deficiency. It results from other underlying diseases and to look for its cause is very crucial and is of far greater importance than restoring the iron stores and hemoglobin levels. To determine the frequency of common upper gastrointestinal endoscopic findings in elderly patients with iron deficiency anemia presenting with dyspepsia. Cross sectional descriptive study. Department of Medicine, Khyber Teaching hospital, Peshawar. March, 2011 to September, 2011. 116 patients, all the patients with iron deficiency anemia presenting with dyspepsia were subjected to upper gastrointestinal endoscopy to detect common findings as gastric erosions, peptic ulcer and gastric carcinoma. Data was analyzed with SPSS 10.0. On upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, normal findings were noted 30 [25.86%] patients and abnormal findings were noted in 86 [74.14%] patients including 45 [38.79%] patients with gastric erosions, 30 [25.86%] patients with peptic ulcer and 11 [9.48%] patients were found with gastric malignancy. Upper gastrointestinal lesions are common in elderly patients with iron deficiency anemia presenting with dyspepsia and must be screened by gastrointestinal endoscopy