HUBUNGAN USIA TERHADAP ANEMIA PADA PASIEN GERIATRI DENGAN PENYAKIT KRONIK

Abstract

Background: Anemia is the most frequent health problem that occur in elderly. The increased incidence of anemia with aging has led to speculation that lower hemoglobin levels may be a normal consequence of aging. There is also an opinion that anemia in elderly is due to disease and not to aging. Among several causes, chronic disease is the most common cause of anemia in the elderly. Objective: To prove that there is an effect of age towards anemia in elderly with chronic disease Method: This study is a retrospective analitic with cross sectional approach. The secondary data of 161 patient with chronic disease in Dr. Kariadi Hospital Semarang from Januari 2005 - Desember 2006 has been studied. Tabulation of data using SPSS for Windows. The statistic test used was Spearman's correlation test with a level of significants( p) <0,05. Result: : From 161 elderly patients, 63 patients have a normal value of hemoglobin, 70 patients were developing mild anemia, and 28 patients developing moderate-severe anemia. The mean value of patients age was 69,87 with youngest age was 60 and oldest age was 85. And the mean value of hemoglobin was 11,487 with lowest level of hemoglobin was 7,2 and the highest level was 16,1. This study shows that effect of the age towards anemia in the elderly with chronic disease is not significant with p = 0,725 (p>0,05) and the correlation is very weak with r = -0.028 Conclusion: there is no significant effect of age towards anemia in elderly with chronic disease. Keywords: anemia, anemia in the elderly, anemia of chronic disease.