Samina Tufail, Nadeem Ikram.
Megaloblastic anemias in adults.
J Pak Inst Med Sci Jan ;14(2):802-7.

This descriptive study was carried out in the pathology department of DHQ teaching hospital Rawalpindi during the period from Jan 2000 to Feb 2003. The aim of the study was to describe clinico - morphological pattern of megaloblastic anemia in our patients belonging to poor socio-economic class. Total number of patients was 64 with male: female ratio of 2:1. The age of the patients ranged from 16 yrs to 65 yrs with mean age of 31.5 yrs. All patients presented with sign and symptoms of anemia. The common clinical presentations were gastrointestinal tract (GIT) symptoms like, anorexia (64.5%), diarrhea (54.8%) and vomiting (25.8%). More than half of the patients (53%) had pancytopenia; out of these, 8.1% had bleeding manifestations due to marked thrombocytopenia. About 8% required blood transfusion. On peripheral film and bone marrow examination majority of the patients had classical features of megaloblastic anemia. Substantial number of patients (46.25%) had concomitant iron deficiency as well. Only one patient had neurological symptoms. It was concluded that megaloblastic anemias are fairly common in our poor socioeconomic class causing considerable morbidity and mortality and there is a need for creating increased awareness regarding the diagnosis and treatment, among the health workers. Further studies are required to investigate into the causes of megaloblastic anemia.

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