Women, Black patients face time lag in treating iron deficiency

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Nearly 60 percent of people with iron deficiency were found to still have low iron levels three years after diagnosis, according to a new study.

The study, published in the journal Blood Advances, analyzed electronic medical records from a large health system in Minnesota.

Researchers identified patients with iron deficiency as those who had 25 nanograms per milliliter of ferritin or less. (Ferritin is a blood protein that stores iron, according to the Mayo Clinic.)

Of the over 13,000 patients who were diagnosed with iron deficiency between 2010 and 2020, 58.1 percent had no documented resolution within three years of diagnosis. For those patients whose deficiency was resolved, the median time of resolution was 1.9 years.

Only about 7 percent of patients saw their iron levels revert to normal within the first year after diagnosis.

Iron deficiency also differed by demographics. Three categories of patients – men, those 60 and older, and people on Medicare – were associated with a greater likelihood of having iron deficiency resolved. Black patients were less likely to have their levels resolved than White patients in three years.

According to the study, iron deficiency may affect up to 40 percent of adolescents and young women. Beyond anemia, low iron levels can impair cognition and exercise tolerance. The researchers advocate more awareness and efficient treatment of iron deficiency, especially among populations with a higher likelihood of iron deficiency.

“Two years is too long and well beyond the timeframe within which iron deficiency should be able to be sufficiently treated and resolved” with oral or IV treatments, Jacob Cogan, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota and the study’s lead author, said in a news release. “The numbers are pretty striking and suggest a need to put systems in place to better identify patients and treat them more efficiently.”