Final answer:
Anemia is a medical condition characterized by insufficient red blood cells or hemoglobin, resulting in reduced oxygen transport to body tissues, causing symptoms like fatigue and weakness. It has various causes including blood loss, nutritional deficiencies, and inherited disorders.
Step-by-step explanation:
Anemia is a condition where there is a deficiency of red blood cells (RBCs) or hemoglobin in the blood, leading to a decreased capacity to carry oxygen to the body's tissues. This often results in symptoms like fatigue, weakness, and shortness of breath. Anemia can be caused by several factors, including significant blood loss, decreased RBC production, such as with iron deficiency anemia or vitamin deficiency anemia, inherited disorders like sickle cell anemia, diseases of the bone marrow, or the excessive destruction of RBCs.
Clinicians use various diagnostic approaches, with the kinetic approach assessing RBC production, destruction, and elimination, and the morphological approach focusing on the size and shape of RBCs utilizing tests like mean corpuscle volume (MCV). Symptoms of anemia, such as lethargy and an increased risk for infection, arise because reduced hemoglobin levels lower the amount of oxygen delivered to tissues, which is essential for their functioning. Severe anemia may require treatments like blood transfusions.