Bird T, Hall M R, Schade R O
Gerontology. 1977;23(4):309-21. doi: 10.1159/000212201.
During 1 year 725 consecutive patients admitted to a geriatric unit were investigated for anaemia. 51% of men had haemoglobin levels below 13.5 g/dl and 41% of women had levels below 12 g/dl. 657 patients had an azuresin tubeless test meal following an augmented dose of histamine acid phosphate and 450 (68%) had achlorhydria. Gastric biopsies were performed on 240 of the patients with achloryhdria and 201 satisfactory biopsies were obtained. These were graded into five categories: (1) normal; (2) surface gastritis; (3) diffuse gastritis; (4) chronic atrophic gastritis, and (5) chronic atrophic gastritis with intestinal metaplasia. The grades of mucosal change could not be correlated with the presence or absence of anaemia, the state of gastric function as measured by the Schilling test for absorption of vitamin B12, or the level of vitamin B12 in the serum.
