Haematology: anaemia of chronic disease: practice question

The best answer is A, Hepcidin-mediated iron sequestration by inflammation. Inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6 raise hepcidin, which blocks ferroportin and traps iron in macrophages, giving low serum iron and TIBC with normal or high ferritin.

B12 deficiency causes macrocytosis.

Blood loss would give low ferritin and high TIBC.

Globin defects occur in thalassaemia.

It tests Haematology: anaemia of chronic disease in General Medicine. Anaemia is usually normocytic to mildly microcytic. Treating the underlying disease improves it.

We tag it as an application question: it asks you to use a fact on a patient or a finding. The tag is our own editorial judgement, not an official difficulty rating, so read the reason for every option, not only the answer.

For each disease know the classic presentation, the best test, and the first-line treatment. Then use the flashcards and the other General Medicine questions on this site to test what stuck.

No. It is an original practice item (editorial status: sample, version 1). NextPrep does not publish recalled or leaked questions, and independent faculty review of this item has not been completed yet, so confirm important facts in a standard textbook.