Anemia

The most common blood disorder is anemia, and affects about half of all people with active lupus and is measured in several ways, including a low red blood cell count, but most importantly, it means too little hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is the protein inside red cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to the tissues of the body. Red blood cells live only around 120 days and must constantly be produced by the bone marrow. With anemia, the red cell production is reduced due to: inflammation, inadequate erythropoietin (a hormone produced by the kidneys, which stimulates the marrow to make more red cells), iron deficiency, and loss of bone marrow caused by certain drugs used for treatment.