Journal
INTENSIVE CARE MEDICINE
Volume 42, Issue 11, Pages 1715-1722Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00134-016-4465-6
Keywords
Anaemia; Critical care; Allogeneic red blood cell transfusion; IV iron
Categories
Funding
- UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA)
- Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
- UK National Institute of Academic Anaesthesia (NIAA)/British Journal of Anaesthesia (BJA)/Association of Cardiothoracic Anaesthetists (ACTA)/Vascular Anaesthesia Society of Great Britain and Ireland (VASGBI)
- Pharmocosmos
- Vifor Pharma
- Acelity
- Stroke Association
- Mason Medical Research Foundation
- University College Hospital (UCH) League of Friends
- Libresse/Bodyform
- Thieme Stuttgart, Germany
- Elsevier Science USA
- National Blood Authority (Australia)
- Medical Society for Blood Management
- Health Round Table
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Both anaemia and allogenic red blood cell transfusion are common and potentially harmful in patients admitted to the intensive care unit. Whilst intravenous iron may decrease anaemia and RBC transfusion requirement, the safety and efficacy of administering iron intravenously to critically ill patients is uncertain. The multicentre, randomized, placebo-controlled, blinded Intravenous Iron or Placebo for Anaemia in Intensive Care (IRONMAN) study was designed to test the hypothesis that, in anaemic critically ill patients admitted to the intensive care unit, early administration of intravenous iron, compared with placebo, reduces allogeneic red blood cell transfusion during hospital stay and increases the haemoglobin level at the time of hospital discharge. Of 140 patients enrolled, 70 were assigned to intravenous iron and 70 to placebo. The iron group received 97 red blood cell units versus 136 red blood cell units in the placebo group, yielding an incidence rate ratio of 0.71 [95 % confidence interval (0.43-1.18), P = 0.19]. Overall, median haemoglobin at hospital discharge was significantly higher in the intravenous iron group than in the placebo group [107 (interquartile ratio IQR 97-115) vs. 100 g/L (IQR 89-111), P = 0.02]. There was no significant difference between the groups in any safety outcome. In patients admitted to the intensive care unit who were anaemic, intravenous iron, compared with placebo, did not result in a significant lowering of red blood cell transfusion requirement during hospital stay. Patients who received intravenous iron had a significantly higher haemoglobin concentration at hospital discharge.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available