Implications of iron deficiency

The World Health Organisation¹ stated that iron deficiency is the single most common mineral deficiency world-wide. Therefore in clinical practice, this often results in iron supplementation for various groups of patients:

• Due to the heavy demand for iron in the last trimester of pregnancy most women rely heavily on the supplementation of iron.
  
  

• Trauma and blood loss increase the need to quickly restore iron levels, either as oral supplementation or in conjunction with transfused blood products.
  
  
• Gastro-intestinal disorders particularly
  mal-absorption problems often necessitates the need for extra iron.
  
  
• Rapid growth spurts during childhood, together with poor dietary intake may result in iron deficiency. Studies have shown a correlation between iron deficiency and cognitive development.
  
  
• The elderly are vulnerable to iron deficiency due to achlorhydria and compounded by poor dietary intake, therefore iron supplementation may be necessary.
  
  
• Physically active people, particularly those involved in vigorous sports may be vulnerable to iron deficiency due to: foot strike destruction of red blood cells; increased oxidation to muscle tissue and gastro-intestinal ischemia due to trauma of iron absorption reception sites.

 
One of the main concerns in clinical practice is non compliance of iron supplementation resulting in poor management of iron deficiency.

Due to the complexity of iron absorption in the body, dietary factors and heavy demand to replace iron stores, patients often experience gastro-intestinal effects when large doses of iron are taken orally. Consequently, this often makes it very difficult for patients to adhere to regular or long-term treatment.

Many practitioners have experimented with various treatment regimes to overcome this issue, but this still remains a barrier to resolving long-term iron deficiency. The WHO have called for research and investigation into iron supplementation that has higher absorbency, lower dosage and minimisation of side effects to increase the compliancy rates of iron therapy¹. 

1 WHO (2001) Iron deficiency anaemia. Assessment, prevention and control. Geneva, Switzerland.