title: The status of iron absorption in older patients with iron deficiency anemia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study is to evaluate the iron absorption status by using the oral iron absorption test (OIAT) in older patients with iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in comparison with younger patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a cross-sectional study including 100 patients with iron deficiency anemia. Patients were divided in two groups; group 1 who is 65 and older and group 2 who is younger than 65. OIAT in which a fasting serum iron level is compared with a second serum iron level obtained three hours following oral ingestion of iron sulfate was performed. An increase in serum iron of at least 100 mcg/dL indicates that oral iron absorption is adequate. The Independent-Samples t-test was used to show the statistical difference between the means of two groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 100 patients in the study; 69 of them have completed the study. The means of the oral iron absorption test results of the groups was compared with an independent t-test, which showed that the mean of group 1 was lower than group 2 and this was statistically significant (p = 0.001). The mean of OIAT results was 86.1 and 163.5 in group 1 and 2 respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In our knowledge, the present study is among the first that shows the status of iron absorption objectively by using OIAT in older patients. Our study shows iron absorption is decreased in older patients with IDA in comparison with younger patients. In the light of this finding; OIAT should be offered before initiating treatment in older patients when IDA is diagnosed and intravenous iron treatment should be considered more on the base of results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, Yildirim Beyazit University, Faculty of Medicine, Ataturk Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey. kamilesilay@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Silay
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Akinci
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yalcin
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Guney
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ulas
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ozer
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ozbek
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dilek
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D018798:Anemia, Iron-Deficiency / Q000097:blood*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007501:Iron / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male
chemical_list: D007501:Iron