Efficacy and safety of intravenous iron sucrose for treatment of iron deficiency anemia in pregnancy

Abstract

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background: </strong>Leading cause of anemia is due to thedeficiency of iron in pregnant women. The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of intravenous iron sucrose for the treatment of iron deficiency anemia in pregnancy particularly for those who had unsatisfactory response to oral iron therapy.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods: </strong>This is an open label, observational study that was carried out in Jamal Noor Hospital, Karachi for 6 months by using non-probability consecutive sampling technique, after taking ethical approval. Seventy two pregnant women with level of Hb equivalent to or <10 g/dl, Serum ferritin level equivalent to or <10 μg/l with the age ranging from 18-40 years, Gestational age 16 weeks or above were included in the study. A two times-weekly dose of 200 mg of iron sucrose (Axifer) intravenously were infused to pregnant women. However, the dose was calculated for every patient through total iron deficit. SPSS version 22 was used to analyze the data.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results: </strong>The study results showed that the mean age of the pregnant womenwas 25.83±5.03 years, their mean weight was 59.50±10.28 kg, and their mean gestational week was 28.88±4.09. It showed that both the haemoglobin (9.01±0.74 mg/dl versus 11.92±11.07 mg/dl), (p<0.001) and ferritin levels (9.85±12.38 ng/ml versus 50.74±59.42 ng/ml), (p<0.001)were significantly increased at term after receiving intravenous iron sucrose as compared to the baseline.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> This study concluded that the administration of iron sucrose (Axifer) intravenously is a secure and effective choice in the management of iron deficiency anemia in pregnant women particularly for those who had inadequate response to oral iron supplementation.</p>