TY - JOUR T1 - Iron deficiency anaemia in chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases: low mean cell haemoglobin is a better marker than low mean cell volume JF - Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases JO - Ann Rheum Dis SP - 787 LP - 788 DO - 10.1136/ard.2004.025890 VL - 64 IS - 5 AU - J Francis AU - D Sheridan AU - A Samanta AU - F E Nichol Y1 - 2005/05/01 UR - http://ard.bmj.com/content/64/5/787.abstract N2 - Iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) is a common and complex problem in chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases. The predominant cause of IDA is gastrointestinal blood loss, often due to drug treatment. However, asymptomatic colonic and gastric carcinoma may present with IDA and exclusion of these conditions is of prime concern. The British Society of Gastroenterology has recently revised the guidelines for the diagnosis and management of IDA in the general population.1 These guidelines use a combination of low haemoglobin, low mean cell volume (MCV), and low serum ferritin to diagnose IDA. Diagnosing IDA in the presence of chronic inflammation as seen in rheumatoid arthritis, poses considerable difficulty because serum ferritin is an acute phase reactant and rises in the presence of inflammation. A further complicating factor in our population is that … ER -