Pernicious anemia in Saudi Arabs.

Over a five-year period extending from January 1986 to December 1990, seven cases of pernicious anemia in Saudi patients were diagnosed at King Khalid University Hospital in Riyadh. There were five males and two females. The age range was 45 to 73 with a mean age of 61 years. The presenting symptoms, laboratory features and the disease pattern were similar to those described in northern European patients with the possible exception of male predominance in our patients. One patient demonstrated an interesting phenomenon of masking the macrocytosis of pernicious anemia by concurrent beta thalassemia minor. No association with any other autoimmune diseases was detected in any of our patients.