What is the prognosis for iron deficiency anemia?
The prognosis for treating and curing iron deficiency anemia is excellent. Perhaps the main problem is failure to take iron supplements. In cases of pregnant women, the health care worker may recommend taking 100-200 mg iron/day. This dose is rather high, and can lead to nausea, diarrhea, or abdominal pain in 10-20 % of women taking this dose. The reason for using this high dose is to effect a rapid cure for anemia, where the anemia is detected at a mid-point during the pregnancy. The above problems of sideeffects and noncompliance can be avoided by taking iron doses (100-200 mg) only once a week, where supplements are initiated some time prior to conception, or continuously throughout the fertile period of life. The problem of compliance is not an issue where infusions are used, however a fraction of patients treated with iron infusions experience sideeffects, such as flushing, headache, nausea, anaphylaxis, or seizures. A number of studies have shown that iron deficiency anemia in in
