Iron Deficiency Goes Unnoticed in Too Many U.S. Female Adolescents
upstart writes:
Nearly 40 percent lack enough of the essential nutrient, and can suffer from dizziness to anemia:
Many female adolescents in the United States may not have enough iron in their bodies. But most may never know, partly due to a lack of routine screenings as well as disagreement over what constitutes too little iron, pediatric hematologist Angela Weyand argues.
Iron deficiencies are most commonly diagnosed in toddlers, people who menstruate and pregnant people. But Weyand, of the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, frequently treats female adolescents for severe cases of the condition. That led her to suspect that its prevalence was being underestimated in that group.
Her analysis of data from thousands of blood samples collected as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which evaluates a nationally representative sample of people each year, suggests the issue is worthy of attention.
Up to 40 percent of U.S. females from the ages of 12 to 21 could be iron deficient, she and colleagues report in the June 27 JAMA. That's much higher than previous estimates of about 16 percent, which use a lower cutoff point than Weyand's team did for iron levels.
Iron is an essential component of red blood cells that helps deliver oxygen to organs and tissues. Iron deficiency can cause dizziness, headaches, fatigue, sleep disorders and cold hands and feet. Some of those problems can lead to low work productivity or an inability to multitask (SN: 5/4/04). Severe iron deficiency can also lead to anemia, a condition in which the body doesn't have enough healthy red blood cells. Anemia can spark more severe issues, such as heart problems or pregnancy complications.
Weyand and colleagues analyzed levels of two iron-containing proteins, hemoglobin and ferritin, in blood samples collected from almost 3,500 female adolescents from 2003 to 2020 as part of the national survey. The researchers diagnosed iron deficiency if the level of ferritin was below 25 micrograms per liter.
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