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Rehovot's Kaplan Medical Scientists Show Low-dose Iron Best for Older Patients with Anemia, Reuters Health Reports
"As a treatment for anemia in elderly patients, low-dose iron therapy can improve hemoglobin levels just as well as higher doses can, but with a lower likelihood of side effects, new research indicates.
Anemia occurs when red blood cells are insufficient to carry enough oxygen to meet the body's needs. Hemoglobin, a protein in these cells, is responsible for this job and its formation requires adequate levels of iron.
The study, which appears in the American Journal of Medicine, involved 90 hospitalized patients over 80 years of age who were randomly selected to receive 15 or 50 milligrams of a liquid iron compound or 150 milligrams of iron tablets as a treatment for iron-deficiency anemia. As a comparison group, 30 patients without anemia received 15 mg of iron for 60 days.
Hemoglobin levels were assessed on the day therapy was initiated and after 30 and 60 days of treatment, the report indicates.
Just 15 minutes after the first dose was given, a rise in blood iron levels was noted in anemic patients, but not in their nonanemic counterparts, lead author Dr. Ephraim Rimon, from the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot, Israel, and colleagues report.
Regardless of the iron dose given, the increase in hemoglobin levels over 60 days was nearly the same.
Adverse effects, by contrast, were significantly more common with higher iron doses. The main side effects reported included abdominal discomfort, nausea, vomiting, changes in bowel movements, and black stools.
"This study demonstrates that small iron doses, one tenth of what is generally recommended, efficiently raise hemoglobin and iron stores in elderly patients without producing substantial adverse effects," Rimon's team concludes. SOURCE: American Journal of Medicine, October 2005."
Source: Low-dose iron best for older patients with anemia. ABC News / Reuters (24 Nov 2005) [FullText]
Anemia occurs when red blood cells are insufficient to carry enough oxygen to meet the body's needs. Hemoglobin, a protein in these cells, is responsible for this job and its formation requires adequate levels of iron.
The study, which appears in the American Journal of Medicine, involved 90 hospitalized patients over 80 years of age who were randomly selected to receive 15 or 50 milligrams of a liquid iron compound or 150 milligrams of iron tablets as a treatment for iron-deficiency anemia. As a comparison group, 30 patients without anemia received 15 mg of iron for 60 days.
Hemoglobin levels were assessed on the day therapy was initiated and after 30 and 60 days of treatment, the report indicates.
Just 15 minutes after the first dose was given, a rise in blood iron levels was noted in anemic patients, but not in their nonanemic counterparts, lead author Dr. Ephraim Rimon, from the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot, Israel, and colleagues report.
Regardless of the iron dose given, the increase in hemoglobin levels over 60 days was nearly the same.
Adverse effects, by contrast, were significantly more common with higher iron doses. The main side effects reported included abdominal discomfort, nausea, vomiting, changes in bowel movements, and black stools.
"This study demonstrates that small iron doses, one tenth of what is generally recommended, efficiently raise hemoglobin and iron stores in elderly patients without producing substantial adverse effects," Rimon's team concludes. SOURCE: American Journal of Medicine, October 2005."
Source: Low-dose iron best for older patients with anemia. ABC News / Reuters (24 Nov 2005) [FullText]
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