Radioactive Iron Metabolism and Erythrocyte Survival Studies of the Mechanism of the Anemia Associated with Rheumatoid Arthritis1

Abstract

Anemia of moderate severity occurs frequently in rheumatoid arthritis patients (1). These patients show abnormalities of iron metabolism such as low serum iron concentration and rapid loss of injected iron from the plasma (1-4). Abnormali- ties of red cell survival have been described (5-7), while studies of heme pigment excretion products have not shown evidence of increased hemoglobin catabolism (8). The role of these disturbances in the genesis of the anemia in arthritic patients is not clearly understood.