Low Hematocrits during Basic Training: Athlete's Anemia?

To the Editor: The report by Bell and Cowan¹ in their letter on soldiers rejected for blood donation because of low hematocrits is an interesting phenomenon. An important point for the understanding of the underlying mechanism is that the frequency of rejection was much higher in those who were in basic combat training than in those who were not. A similar observation is that active sportsmen have a high incidence of anemia.² We have been working with hematologic changes in young men exposed to severe physical exercise³ and should like to make some comments. Male cadets were taking part in.