Roganovic J. Parenteral iron therapy in children with iron deficiency anemia. World J Clin Cases 2024; 12(13): 2138-2142 [DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i13.2138]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Jelena Roganovic, MD, PhD, Adjunct Professor, Chief Doctor, Full Professor, Senior Researcher, Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Children’s Hospital Zagreb, Klaiceva 16, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia. roganovic.kbcri@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Pediatrics
Article-Type of This Article
Editorial
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. May 6, 2024; 12(13): 2138-2142 Published online May 6, 2024. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i13.2138
Parenteral iron therapy in children with iron deficiency anemia
Jelena Roganovic
Jelena Roganovic, Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Children’s Hospital Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Jelena Roganovic, Faculty of Biotechnology and Drug Development, University of Rijeka, Rijeka 51000, Croatia
Author contributions: Roganovic J designed and wrote the article.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author has nothing to disclose.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jelena Roganovic, MD, PhD, Adjunct Professor, Chief Doctor, Full Professor, Senior Researcher, Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Children’s Hospital Zagreb, Klaiceva 16, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia. roganovic.kbcri@gmail.com
Received: December 12, 2023 Revised: February 10, 2024 Accepted: April 7, 2024 Published online: May 6, 2024
Abstract
Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) continues to be a global public health problem. Oral iron is the universally accepted first-line therapy, and most children have a prompt and favorable response to oral formulations. In subsets of children who fail to respond due to intolerance, poor adherence, or inadequate intestinal absorption, parenteral iron is indicated. Despite numerous studies in adults with IDA of diverse etiologies, pediatric studies on parenteral iron use are very limited. Although mostly retrospective and small, these studies have documented the efficacy and safety profile of intravenous iron formulations. In this editorial the author comments on the most important published data and underscores the need to seriously consider parenteral iron use in children unresponsive to oral therapy.
Core Tip: Intravenous iron is an important but underutilized therapy in children with iron deficiency anemia (IDA) who fail to respond to oral iron. Considering IDA-related long-term negative neurobehavioral effects, it is important to switch to intravenous iron timely and safely. Over the last decades there has been a remarkable improvement in the quality of intravenous iron formulations with greater efficacy, tolerability, and safety.
