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Updated: Jun 11, 2026

A Point-of-Care Method with Integrated Decision Support Tool to Estimate Anemia at Population Level
Published on: January 19, 2024
[Macrocytosis without anaemia in an urban population]
Paloma Domínguez Ruiz de León1, Victoria Morcillo Cebolla, Blanca Gutiérrez Parres
1Medicina Familiar y Comunitaria, Área 2, Madrid, Spain. pdruizdeleon@yahoo.es
Objective:
Observational study on a group of patients with macrocytosis without anaemia. The probable relationship of cause and effect between Helicobacter pylori and macrocytosis.
Methods And Material:
An observational and cross-sectional study.
Main Measurements:
The measured variables were: personal data, medical and analytical history in relation to macrocytosis, alcohol and smoking habits and drug use. This information was taken from the medical history of the patient.
Results:
The prevalence of macrocytosis without anaemia was 7.12%. The main cause found was hypothyroidism in 37/234 (15.8%) patients, followed by alcoholism in 34/234 (14.5%) patients. The most frequent association was alcohol and tobacco in 9/234 (3.8%) patients. It was not possible to find a cause of the increased mean corpuscular volume (MCV) in 87/234 (37.18%) patients. Out of 37 tests conducted for Helicobacter pylori, 23 of them were positive.
Discussion:
Macrocytosis without anaemia has a high prevalence. Finding the most frequent causes could help in the early diagnosis and treatment. H. pylori currently appears to be associated to different digestive tract and non-digestive tract diseases.It could be a cause of increased MCV, but this study was unable demonstrate this.
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