What is a lack of oxygen delivery to body tissues?

• A. Anoxia
• B. Hypoxia
• C. Hyperoxia
• D. Ischemia

Answer: (B)

Hypoxia is the state where tissues don’t receive enough oxygen to meet their needs. It directly refers to insufficient oxygen delivery at the tissue level, which can arise from a variety of causes—low oxygen content in the blood, reduced cardiac output, or impaired blood flow to tissues. Anoxia would be a complete absence of oxygen, which is more extreme. Hyperoxia means too much oxygen. Ischemia describes reduced blood flow itself and can lead to hypoxia, but the term focuses on the cause (restricted perfusion) rather than the oxygen level itself. So the term that best matches “a lack of oxygen delivery to body tissues” is hypoxia.