Evaluation of ferric and ferrous iron therapies in women with iron deficiency anaemia

Exploring progress in iron supplement formulation approaches for treating iron deficiency anemia through bibliometric and thematic analysis

Anemia is a severe health issue that affects around one-third of the global population. Therefore, the present study aims to conduct a bibliometric analysis to investigate the research trends regarding advancements on iron formulations in treating iron deficiency anemia via oral or parenteral route. This study adopts thematic and bibliometric methods on existing research on novel iron formulations. It also provides perspective into the existing understanding on treatment strategies for iron deficiency anemia. This study is conducted on 543 papers on various ferrous and ferric formulations used in the treatment of iron deficiency anemia. The study period is from 1977 to 2022, and the papers are identified from the Scopus database. The bibliometric analysis was carried out using the R tool's Bibliometrix package. The study discusses performance analysis, including annual publications, geographic analysis, relevant affiliations, journal analysis, and citation analysis. In addition, the conceptual structure, including the co-occurrence network, thematic map, thematic evolution, intellectual structure highlighting co-citation analysis, and social structure depicting the collaboration network and collaboration world map, are presented. The results showed increased research on formulation strategies for the treatment of iron deficiency anemia from 2010 onwards. The top 5 contributing countries are the USA, Italy, India, Germany, and the UK, and peer-reviewed journals from the area of nutrition. The most trending areas of study are iron deficiency anemia in pregnancy, chronic kidney diseases, inflammatory bowel diseases, and various intravenous formulations used in its treatment. The authors from Europe collaborate the most with authors from other countries. The study concludes that a safer and more effective iron formulation is needed to reduce the prevalence of anemia. The findings of the study are helpful in advancing research on innovative formulations for treating iron deficiency anemia. The insights from the study are helpful to policymakers in designing specific health policies and investing more in research and development of novel formulations for the treatment of iron deficiency anemia.

Approaches to Address the Anemia Challenge

Anemia is a multifactorial condition; approaches to address it must recognize that the causal factors represent an ecology consisting of internal (biology, genetics, and health) and external (social/behavioral/demographic and physical) environments. In this paper, we present an approach for selecting interventions, followed by a description of key issues related to the multiple available interventions for prevention and reduction of anemia. We address interventions for anemia using the following 2 main categories: 1) those that address nutrients alone, and, 2) those that address nonnutritional causes of anemia. The emphasis will be on interventions of public health relevance, but we also consider the clinical context. We also focus on interventions at different stages of the life course, with a particular focus on women of reproductive age and preschool-age children, and present evidence on various factors to consider when selecting an intervention-inflammation, genetic mutations, nutrient delivery, bioavailability, and safety. Each section on an intervention domain concludes with a brief discussion of key research areas.

Prevention and Management of Iron Deficiency/Iron-Deficiency Anemia in Women: An Asian Expert Consensus

The lack of standardized clinical practice impeding the optimal management of iron deficiency (ID) and iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in women is a global concern, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. The aim of this study was to determine best practices through a Delphi consensus process. In Round 1, panelists were asked to rate their level of agreement with 99 statements across four domains: identification, diagnosis and assessment, prevention, and treatment of ID/IDA in women. In Round 2, panelists reappraised their ratings in view of the collective feedback and responses to Round 1. After two rounds, consensus (≥85% agreement) was reached for 84% of the Delphi statements. Experts agreed on the role of presenting symptoms and risk factors in prompting assessments of anemia and iron status in women. Experts repeatedly called for prevention, recommending preventive iron supplementation for pregnant women irrespective of anemia prevalence levels, and for non-pregnant adult women, adolescent girls, and perimenopausal women living in areas with a high prevalence of anemia. Experts unanimously agreed to prescribing oral ferrous iron as first-line therapy for uncomplicated ID/IDA. The recommendations and clinical pathway algorithms generated should be used to inform clinical practice and standardize the care of women at risk or presenting with ID/IDA in the Asia-Pacific region.

Daily versus every other day oral iron supplementation in patients with iron deficiency anemia (DEODO): study protocol for a phase 3 multicentered, pragmatic, open-label, pilot randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) accounts for the majority of anemia cases across the globe and can lead to impairments in both physical and cognitive functioning. Oral iron supplementation is the first line of treatment to improve the hemoglobin level for IDA patients. However, gaps still exist in understanding the appropriate dosing regimen of oral iron. The current trial proposes to evaluate the feasibility of performing this study to examine the effectiveness and side-effect profile of oral iron once daily versus every other day.

METHODS

In this open-label, pilot, feasibility, randomized controlled trial, 52 outpatients over 16 years of age with IDA (defined as hemoglobin < 12.0 g/dL in females and < 13.0 g/dL in males and ferritin < 30 mcg/L) will be enrolled across two large academic hospitals. Participants are randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive 300 mg oral ferrous sulfate (60 mg of elemental iron) either every day or every other day for 12 weeks. Participants are excluded if they are as follows: (1) pregnant and/or currently breastfeeding, (2) have a disease history that would impair response to oral iron (e.g., thalassemia, celiac disease), (3) intolerant and/or have an allergy to oral iron or vitamin C, (4) on new anticoagulants in the past 6 months, (5) received IV iron therapy in the past 12 weeks, (6) have surgery, chemotherapy, or blood donation planned in upcoming 12 weeks, (7) a creatinine clearance < 30 mL/min, or (8) hemoglobin less than 8.0 g/dL with active bleeding. The primary outcome is feasibility to enroll 52 participants in this trial over a 2-year period to determine the effectiveness of daily versus every other day oral iron supplementation on hemoglobin at 12 weeks post-initiation and side-effect profile.

DISCUSSION

The results of this trial will provide additional evidence for an appropriate dosing schedule for treating patients with IDA with oral iron supplementation. Additional knowledge will be gained on how the dosing regimen of oral iron impacts quality of life and hemoglobin repletion in IDA patients. If this trial is deemed feasible, it will inform the development and implementation of a larger multicenter definitive trial.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03725384 . Registered 31 October 2018.

Oral iron supplementation in iron-deficient women: How much and how often?

Iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia (IDA) are major public health problems worldwide, especially in young women. Oral iron supplementation can be an effective strategy to treat and prevent IDA, but guidelines vary. Some experts recommend doses of 150-200 mg elemental iron per day, with the dose split through the day. However, recent studies suggest this may not be an optimal regimen. The fraction of iron absorbed from high doses of oral iron is low, and unabsorbed iron can cause gut irritation, inflammation and dysbiosis, and these reduce compliance. In recent studies using serum hepcidin profiles and stable iron isotopes to quantify iron absorption in young women, we have shown that: (a) oral iron doses ≥60 mg in iron-deficient women, and doses ≥100 mg in women with IDA, stimulate an acute increase in hepcidin that persists 24 h after the dose, but subsides by 48 h; (b) therefore, to maximize fractional iron absorption, oral doses ≥60 mg should be given on alternate days; (c) the circadian increase in plasma hepcidin is augmented by a morning iron dose; therefore, iron doses should not be given in the afternoon or evening after a morning dose. If rate of Hb response is important, a pooled analysis of our data done for this review indicates that total iron absorption is also higher if twice the target daily iron dose is given on alternate days. In summary, these studies suggest changing from daily to alternate-day schedules and from divided to morning single doses increases iron absorption and may reduce side effects. Thus, providing morning doses of 60-120 mg iron as a ferrous salt given with ascorbic acid on alternate days may be an optimal oral dosing regimen for women with iron-deficiency and mild IDA.

Effects of 6-months of oral ferrous and ferric supplement therapy in patients who were hospitalized for decompensated chronic heart failure

Objective

Anemia is common in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). This study aimed to examine the frequency of iron deficiency anemia in patients with CHF. We investigated the effects of oral ferrous or ferric supplementation on prognosis of CHF and quality of life.

Methods

A total of 201 patients with chronic decompensated heart failure were enrolled in a 6-month prospective study. Patients were randomly assigned to two groups. Patients in group I (n = 100) received ferrous fumarate and those in group II (n = 101) received ferric hydroxide polymaltose complex. Quality of life was measured by the 6-minute walking test (6MWT).

Results

A total of 49% of the patients had iron-dependent anemia in group I and 53.3% were anemic in group II. In group I, the number of anemic patients was significantly lower at 6 months after admission compared with at initial admission (49% versus 45%). Significant improvements were observed in hemoglobin values, the 6MWT distance, and New York Heart Association class after 6 months in both groups.

Conclusions

Iron deficiency is a significant comorbidity in CHF, even without anemia. Iron should be replaced orally or intravenously because it significantly improves the quality of life of patients.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of iron therapy in anaemic adults without chronic kidney disease: updated and abridged Cochrane review

AIMS

Anaemia is increasingly recognized as having an independent impact upon patient outcomes in cardiac disease. The role of novel iron therapies to treat anaemia is increasing. This systematic review and meta-analysis assesses the efficacy and safety of iron therapies for the treatment of adults with anaemia.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Electronic databases and search engines were searched as per Cochrane methodology. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of iron vs. inactive control or placebo, as well as alternative formulations, doses, and routes in anaemic adults without chronic kidney disease or in the peri-partum period were eligible. The primary outcome of interest was mortality at 1 year. Secondary outcomes were blood transfusion, haemoglobin levels, quality of life, serious adverse events, and length of hospital stay. A total of 64 RCTs (including five studies of heart failure patients) comprising 9004 participants were included. None of the studies was at a low risk of bias. There were no statistically significant differences in mortality between iron and inactive control. Both oral and parenteral iron significantly reduced the proportion of patients requiring blood transfusion compared with inactive control [risk ratio (RR) 0.66, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.48-0.90; and RR 0.84, 95% CI 0.73-0.97, respectively]. Haemoglobin was increased more by both oral and parenteral iron compared with inactive control [mean difference (MD) 0.91 g/dL, 95% CI 0.48 to 1.35; and MD 1.04, 95% CI 0.52 to 1.57, respectively], and parenteral iron demonstrated a greater increase when compared with oral iron (MD 0.53 g/dL, 95% CI 0.31-0.75). In all comparisons, there were no differences in the results comparing patients with and without heart failure.

CONCLUSION

Both oral and parenteral iron are shown to decrease the proportion of people who require blood transfusion and increase haemoglobin levels, without any benefit on mortality. Further trials at a low risk of bias, powered to measure clinically significant endpoints, are still required.

Iron deficiency anemia in pregnancy

Anemia is the most frequent derailment of physiology in the world throughout the life of a woman. It is a serious condition in countries that are industrialized and in countries with poor resources. The main purpose of this manuscript is to give the right concern of anemia in pregnancy. The most common causes of anemia are poor nutrition, iron deficiencies, micronutrients deficiencies including folic acid, vitamin A and vitamin B12, diseases like malaria, hookworm infestation and schistosomiasis, HIV infection and genetically inherited hemoglobinopathies such as thalassemia. Depending on the severity and duration of anemia and the stage of gestation, there could be different adverse effects including low birth weight and preterm delivery. Treatment of mild anemia prevents more severe forms of anemia, strictly associated with increased risk of fetal-maternal mortality and morbidity.