Iron-deficiency anemia

Environmental responsibilities of livestock feeding using trace mineral supplements

Trace elements are essential dietary components for livestock species. However, they also exhibit a strong toxic potential. Therefore, their fluxes through the animal organism are tightly regulated by a complex molecular machinery that controls the rate of absorption from the gut lumen as well as the amount of excretion via faeces, urine and products (e.g., milk) in order to maintain an internal equilibrium. When supplemented in doses above the gross requirement trace elements accumulate in urine and faeces and, hence, manure. Thereby, trace element emissions represent a potential threat to the environment. This fact is of particular importance in regard to the widely distributed feeding practice of pharmacological zinc and copper doses for the purpose of performance enhancement. Adverse environmental effects have been described, like impairment of plant production, accumulation in edible animal products and the water supply chain as well as the correlation between increased trace element loads and antimicrobial resistance. In the light of discussions about reducing the allowed upper limits for trace element loads in feed and manure from livestock production in the European Union excessive dosing needs to be critically reconsidered. Moreover, the precision in trace element feeding has to be increased in order to avoid unnecessary supplementation and, thereby, heavy metal emissions from livestock production.

Anaemia in the Elderly IBD Patient

OPINION STATEMENT

Anaemia is a common multifactorial extraintestinal manifestation in IBD patients. Moreover, anaemia represents an important health problem among the elderly population and has a significant impact on healthcare utilisation and costs. Data on the prevalence, diagnosis and management of anaemia in elderly IBD patients are scarce, since clinical trials have largely excluded this population. In this review, we reconsider anaemia in older IBD patients in the light of new diagnostic and therapeutic tools.

Anemia of Chronic Disorders: New Diagnostic Tools and New Treatment Strategies

Anemia in the setting of chronic inflammatory disorders is a very frequent clinical condition, which is, however, often neglected or not properly treated given the problems often caused by the diseases underlying the development of anemia. Mechanistically, anemia is mainly caused by inflammation-driven retention of iron in macrophages making the metal unavailable for heme synthesis in the course of erythropoiesis, and further by impaired biological activity of the red blood cell hormone erythropoietin and the reduced proliferative capacity of erythroid progenitor cells. Anemia can be aggravated by chronic blood loss, as found in subjects with gastrointestinal cancers, inflammatory or infectious bowel disease, or iatrogenic blood loss in the setting of dialysis, all resulting in true iron deficiency. The identification of such patients is a clinical necessity because these individuals need contrasting therapies in comparison to subjects suffering from only classical anemia of chronic disorders. The diagnosis is challenging because no state of the art laboratory test is currently available that can clearly separate patients with inflammatory anemia from those with additional true iron deficiency. However, based on our expanding knowledge on the pathophysiology of inflammatory anemia, new diagnostic markers, including the iron-regulatory hormone hepcidin, and hematologic parameters emerge. Apart from traditional anemia treatments such as blood transfusions, recombinant erythropoietin, and iron, including new high-molecular-weight formulations, new therapeutics are currently under preclinical and clinical evaluation. These novel compounds aim at correcting anemia by multiple pathways, including antagonizing the inflammation- and hepcidin-driven retention of iron in the monocyte-macrophage system and thereby promoting the supply of iron for erythropoiesis or by stimulating the endogenous formation of erythopoietin via stabilization of hypoxia-regulated factors.

Management of Iron-Deficiency Anemia in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Systematic Review

Anemia is the most frequent complication of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but anemia, mostly due to iron deficiency, has long been neglected in these patients. The aim was to briefly present the pathophysiology, followed by a balanced overview of the different forms of iron replacement available, and subsequently, to perform a systematic review of studies performed in the last decade on the treatment of iron-deficiency anemia in IBD. Given that intravenous therapies have been introduced in the last decade, a systematic review performed in PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, and the websites of WHO, FDA, and EMA covered prospective trials investigating the management of iron-deficiency anemia in IBD published since 2004. A total of 632 articles were reviewed, and 13 articles (2906 patients) with unique content were included. In general, oral supplementation in iron-deficiency anemia should be administered with a target to restore/replenish the iron stores and the hemoglobin level in a suitable way. However, in patients with IBD flares and inadequate responses to or side effects with oral preparations, intravenous iron supplementation is the therapy of choice. Neither oral nor intravenous therapy seems to exacerbate the clinical course of IBD, and intravenous iron therapy can be administered even in active disease stages and concomitantly with biologics. In conclusion, because many physicians are in doubt as to how to manage anemia and iron deficiency in IBD, there is a clear need for the implementation of evidence-based recommendations on this matter. Based on the data presented, oral iron therapy should be preferred for patients with quiescent disease stages and trivial iron deficiency anemia unless such patients are intolerant or have an inadequate response, whereas intravenous iron supplementation may be of advantage in patients with aggravated anemia or flares of IBD because inflammation hampers intestinal absorption of iron.

Iron deficiency: new insights into diagnosis and treatment

Iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia are common conditions worldwide affecting especially children and young women. In developing countries, iron deficiency is caused by poor iron intake and/or parasitic infection, whereas vegetarian dietary choices, poor iron absorption, and chronic blood loss are common causes in high-income countries. Erythropoiesis stimulating agents can result in functional iron deficiency for erythropoiesis even when stores are iron-replete. Diagnosis of iron deficiency is straightforward, except when it occurs in the context of inflammatory disorders. Oral iron salts correct absolute iron deficiency in most patients, because low hepcidin levels facilitate iron absorption. Unfortunately frequent side effects limit oral iron efficacy. Intravenous iron is increasingly utilized, because currently available preparations allow rapid normalization of total body iron even with a single infusion and are effective also in functional iron deficiency and in iron deficiency associated with inflammatory disorders. The evidence is accumulating that these preparations are safe and effective. However, long-term safety issues of high doses of iron need to be further explored.