Abstract
A reduction in hemoglobin levels is common in older subjects. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between changes in blood counts and age in a large outpatient population of adult subjects, in order to verify to what extent such changes may be considered physiological.We examined blood count results in the province of Modena (Italy) from January 2010 to August 2022. Data were analyzed with the platform Anaconda 3, Python 3.7. Appropriate hemoglobin data were extracted from 4,676,003 samples. Hemoglobin levels in subjects over 75 years were largely below lower limits for both sexes (49.3% of 509,834 exams and 35.4% of 704,343 exams for males and females, respectively). The trend was similar in relation to single values per person per year. To exclude patients with some major systemic diseases, we limited our observation to subjects with normal values of serum glucose, creatinine, and alanine transaminase (ALT). In this set of 822,166 analyses, a clinically relevant proportion of older males (nearly 30%) still had hemoglobin values below normal. Such trend was apparent in older age strata. Our findings suggest caution in the interpretation of blood counts in older patients. We therefore advocate a tailored approach in this population.