The changes of red blood cell viscoelasticity and sports anemia in male 24-hr ultra-marathoners A group of Taiwan examined the phenomenon of sport-induced anemia at a 24-hour run. Special phenomena were examined like the viscoelasticity of the red blood cells.It shows that the race led to a waste of haptoglobin, red blood cells, hemoglobin, and hematocrit. On the other hand, there was an increase in reticulocytes and ferritin.In 15 out of 19 runners, there were changes in the viscoelasticity of red blood cells.
The authors concluded that changes in viscoelasticity contribute to sport-induced anemia. The study can be found under https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29133160/