Last updated on 16th Oct 2021 - By Dwayne Michaels

How Abnormal HEMOGLOBIN affects heart?

If you have anemia, your body does not get enough oxygen-rich blood. This can cause you to feel tired or weak. You may also have shortness of breath, dizziness, headaches, or an irregular heartbeat.

Hemoglobin is the iron-containing protein found in all red blood cells (RBCs) that gives the cells their characteristic red color.

When iron stores are exhausted, the condition is called iron depletion. Further decreases may be called iron-deficient erythropoiesis and still further decreases produce iron deficiency anemia.

Hemoglobin deficiency can be caused either by a decreased amount of hemoglobin molecules, as in anemia, or by decreased ability of each molecule to bind oxygen at the same partial pressure of oxygen.

Hemoglobinopathies (genetic defects resulting in abnormal structure of the hemoglobin molecule) may cause both. In any case, hemoglobin deficiency decreases blood oxygen-carrying capacity.

Hemoglobin deficiency is, in general, strictly distinguished from hypoxemia, defined as decreased partial pressure of oxygen in blood, although both are causes of insufficient oxygen supply to tissues.

Decrease of hemoglobin, with or without an absolute decrease of red blood cells, leads to symptoms of anemia.

Anemia has many different causes, although iron deficiency and its resultant iron deficiency anemia are the most common causes in the Western world. As absence of iron decreases heme synthesis, red blood cells in iron deficiency anemia are lacking the red hemoglobin pigment and microcytic (smaller than normal).

Did you know? Not getting enough sleep is linked to Heart attack, Depression, High Blood Pressure, Obesity and Diabetes.

Other anemias are rarer. In hemolysis (accelerated breakdown of red blood cells), associated jaundice is caused by the hemoglobin metabolite bilirubin, and the circulating hemoglobin can cause kidney failure.

Some conditions affect RBC production in the bone marrow and may cause an increase or decrease in the number of mature RBCs released into the blood circulation.

Other conditions may affect the lifespan of RBCs in the circulation. If there is increased destruction of RBCs (hemolysis) or loss of RBCs through bleeding and/or the bone marrow is not able to produce new ones fast enough, then the overall number of RBCs and hemoglobin will drop, resulting in anemia.

Elevated levels of hemoglobin are associated with increased numbers or sizes of red blood cells, called polycythemia. This elevation may be caused by congenital heart disease, cor pulmonale, pulmonary fibrosis, too much erythropoietin, or polycythemia vera.

High hemoglobin levels may also be caused by exposure to high altitudes, smoking, dehydration, advanced lung disease and certain tumors.

Hemoglobin blood test only takes a few minutes to complete and are carried out at your GP surgery or local hospital by a doctor, nurse or phlebotomist. A tight band is usually put around your upper arm.

This squeezes the arm, temporarily slowing down the flow of blood and causing the vein to swell. This makes it easier for a sample to be taken. A needle attached to a syringe or special container is inserted into the vein.

The syringe is used to draw out a sample of your blood. When the sample has been taken, the needle will be removed. Pressure is applied to the skin for a few minutes using a cotton-wool pad. A plaster may be put on the small wound to keep it clean.

Hemoglobin can be tracked noninvasively, to build an individual data set tracking the hemoconcentration and hemodilution effects of daily activities for better understanding of sports performance and training.

Athletes are often concerned about endurance and intensity of exercise. The sensor uses light-emitting diodes that emit red and infrared light through the tissue to a light detector, which then sends a signal to a processor to calculate the absorption of light by the hemoglobin protein.

This sensor is similar to a pulse oximeter, which consists of a small sensing device that clips to the finger.