Efficacy of Combination of Iron Pyrophosphate and Folic Acid in Management of Iron Deficiency- A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Background: Iron deficiency is the most common cause of anemia, especially in reproductive-aged women. If not treated, it leads to weakness, fatigue, menorrhagia, amenorrhea in females and can cause serious consequences such as heart problems and complications in pregnant ladies such as premature births and low birth weight babies. Thus, it is necessary to prescribe iron supplementation in iron-deficient women to avoid complications in the later stage. Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the combination of ferric pyrophosphate and folic acid in reproductive-aged women who suffered from iron deficiency. Methods: Electronic medical records of 100 reproductive-aged women deficient in iron were analyzed. The baseline hemoglobin and iron parameters were noted. They were prescribed a 30 mg tablet combination of ferric pyrophosphate and folic acid, and the parameters were noted at 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks. The data was statistically analyzed by SPSS version 26.0. Results: The hemoglobin (hemoglobin, total erythrocytes, mean corpuscular volume, red cell distribution width, haematocrit) and iron parameters (serum iron, ferritin, transferrin saturation, serum transferrin) showed significant improvement in week 4, which continued till week 12. The RDW levels showed much improvement after week 4 till week 12. Conclusion: Our study concluded that the combination of ferric pyrophosphate and folic acid in tablet form significantly improves the hemoglobin and iron parameters within 4 weeks and showed further improvement until 12 weeks without any complaint of side effects.