pernicious anemia
definition of pernicious anemia
1. an autoimmune disease that prevents the body from making intrinsic factor (a protein made by the stomach and needed to absorb vitamin B12 in the intestine). If left untreated, pernicious anemia causes vitamin B12 deficiency which leads to megaloblastic anemia (a disorder in which red blood cells are larger than normal, immature, and few in number, which reduces the amount of oxygen that can be carried by the blood to the body’s tissues).1