Publication

Iron status and analysis of efficacy and safety of ferric carboxymaltose treatment in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

Journal Paper/Review - Dec 14, 2011

Units
PubMed
Doi

Citation
Beigel F, Ochsenkühn T, Seiderer J, Göke B, Weidinger M, Breiteneicher S, Schnitzler F, Tillack C, Laubender R, Löhr B, Brand S. Iron status and analysis of efficacy and safety of ferric carboxymaltose treatment in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Digestion 2011; 85:47-54.
Type
Journal Paper/Review (English)
Journal
Digestion 2011; 85
Publication Date
Dec 14, 2011
Issn Electronic
1421-9867
Pages
47-54
Brief description/objective

BACKGROUND AND AIMS
We analyzed iron deficiency and the therapeutic response following intravenous ferric carboxymaltose in a large single-center inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) cohort.

METHODS
250 IBD patients were retrospectively analyzed for iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia. A subgroup was analyzed regarding efficacy and side effects of iron supplementation with ferric carboxymaltose.

RESULTS
In the cohort (n = 250), 54.4% of the patients had serum iron levels ≤60 μg/dl, 81.2% had ferritin ≤100 ng/ml, and 25.6% had hemoglobin (Hb) of ≤12 g/dl (females) or ≤13 g/dl (males). In the treatment subcohort (n = 80), 83.1% of the patients had iron ≤60 μg/dl, 90.4% had ferritin ≤100 ng/ml, and 66.7% had Hb ≤12/13 g/dl before ferric carboxymaltose treatment. After a median dose of 500 mg ferric carboxymaltose, 74.7% of the patients reached iron >60 μg/dl, 61.6% had ferritin >100 ng/ml, and 90.7% reached Hb >12/13 g/dl at follow-up (p < 0.0001 for all parameters vs. pretreatment values). The most frequent adverse event was a transient increase of liver enzymes with male gender as risk factor (p = 0.008, OR 8.62, 95% CI 1.74-41.66).

CONCLUSIONS
Iron deficiency and anemia are frequent in IBD patients. Treatment with ferric carboxymaltose is efficious, safe and well tolerated in iron-deficient IBD patients.