Intravenous Iron Replacement Improves Quality of Life in Hypoferritinemic Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients with and without Anemia.
BACKGROUND
No study has compared changes in quality of life (QoL) following iron therapy between anemic and non-anemic, hypoferritinemic patients. This study compares the impact of parenteral iron replacement on QoL in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients with anemia, or in those with hypoferritinemia alone.


METHODS
Consecutive IBD patients diagnosed with anemia or hypoferritinemia were enrolled. IBD questionnaire (IBDQ) and 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF36) at diagnosis and 6 weeks post treatment were measured.


RESULTS
Ten patients with anemia and 13 with hypoferritinemia were treated with intravenous iron polymaltose. Across all patients, there was a significant improvement in median SF36 mental component score by 8.5 (p = 0.004) and median IBDQ by 12 (p = 0.02). There was a trend towards improved median SF36 physical component score by 3.2 (p = 0.6). These changes were not significantly different when comparing anemic with hypoferritinemic patients. In IBDQ, there was a trend toward greater improvement in hypoferritinemic vs. anemic patients (20 vs. 1.5, p = 0.31).


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first study to show that improvements in QoL in hypoferritinemic patients are similar to those with anemia. Based on these results, patients with IBD should be offered the option of iron therapy when they are found to be hypoferritinemic, even in the absence of anemia.
Hutt Valley DHB IBD Service, Lower Hutt, New Zealand.
Elena
E
Eliadou
Gregory
G
Kini
Judy
J
Huang
Amy
A
Champion
Stephen James
SJ
Inns
D061605:Administration, Intravenous; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000740:Anemia / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D005293:Ferritins / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D007501:Iron / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D005293:Ferritins; D007501:Iron
Anemia; Crohn disease; Hypoferritinemia; Inflammatory bowel disease; Iron; Ulcerative colitis