Oral iron fails to improve, transferrin saturation and 6-min walk test in HF with anemia

The key findings of this study were as follows:

1. Analysis was done on five randomized controlled trials with a total of 590 participants that compared oral iron therapy for patients with a placebo group.

2. There was no discernible difference in all-cause mortality between the oral iron therapy and placebo groups.

3. However, the iron therapy group did not substantially experience more negative occurrences.

4. In addition, after iron complex delivery in HF patients, ferritin levels and Tsat were marginally elevated but not statistically significant.

5. According to the findings of the 6MWT, there was no discernible variation in exercise ability. 

6. Additionally, two non-randomized controlled trials were examined, and the findings of the follow-up studies demonstrated that oral iron supplements raised blood iron levels.

In conclusion, the results of this study demonstrate that safe oral iron supplementation can enhance iron storage capacity. Oral iron supplementation, however, had little effect on Tsat and 6MWT in the HF population with ID or moderate anemia. There are still a relatively small number of clinical trials on the administration of oral iron in HF with ID or anemia. Therefore, there is still a need for further well-designed RCTs including various centers and nationalities.

Reference:

Song, Z., Tang, M., Tang, G., Fu, G., Ou, D., Yao, F., Hou, X., & Zhang, D. (2022). Oral iron supplementation in patients with heart failure: a systematic review and meta‐analysis. In ESC Heart Failure. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/ehf2.14020