The following is a summary of “Intravenous Iron for Heart Failure: Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,” published in the November 2023 issue of Cardiology by Techasatian et al.
Researchers started a retrospective study to further investigate the effectiveness of intravenous (IV) iron in reducing hospitalizations and improving symptoms for patients with heart failure, following mixed results from prior trials.
They carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis, examining the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases until January 9, 2023.
The results showed total heart failure hospitalizations, first heart failure hospitalization, six-minute walk test (6MWT) distance, and infection incidence. In 13 studies with 3410 participants (1790 with IV iron), the pooled analysis indicated no significant decrease in cardiovascular death odds or first heart failure hospitalization for IV iron recipients. Conversely, those administered IV iron exhibited a significantly reduced total heart failure hospitalization (pooled OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.44-0.90, I 2 59.0%, P=.017) and a composite of cardiovascular death and first heart failure hospitalization (pooled OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.47-0.64, I 2 0%, P=.656).
Investigators concluded that, though modest, IV iron for heart failure reduced hospitalizations without significant side effects.
Source: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00033197231213181
