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13 papers
Folic acid is a stable, synthetic form of the vitamin folate. Taking folic acid around the time of conception lowers the chance of neural tube birth defects (NTDs). Many countries have added folic acid to flour and other foods. These fortification programs have been linked with large drops in NTDs,…
Hepcidin is a small hormone made in the liver that helps control how the body absorbs and moves iron. It lowers iron flow into the blood by blocking ferroportin, the only known iron exporter on intestinal cells, macrophages (immune cells), and liver cells. Hepcidin levels rise when iron is high…
In healthy adults from the general population, we found a significant and robust association between depression and anemia. Further studies are needed to assess the longitudinal relationship between both conditions and determine the mechanisms underlying this association.
This was a single-blinded, randomized trial of 290 premenopausal women with unexplained fatigue and low iron who received one 1000 mg IV dose of ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) or saline placebo. By Day 56, more women given FCM had reduced fatigue and larger improvements in some quality-of-life and cognitive scores, and…
This population study used Taiwan's national health insurance records to compare adults with iron deficiency anemia (IDA) to matched people without IDA from 2000–2013. After adjusting for other factors, people with IDA had a higher risk of being diagnosed with psychiatric disorders (adjusted hazard ratio 1.52, 95% CI 1.45–1.59). The…
Self-reported history of iron-deficiency anemia was associated with self-reported history of depression. Furthermore, self-reported history of iron-deficiency anemia was associated with higher psychological distress.
This observational study measured blood ferritin (a marker of iron stores) and depressive symptoms in 312 men and 216 women working in two Japanese municipal offices. In men, lower ferritin levels were linked to higher odds of depressive symptoms, with a significant trend across ferritin quartiles. No clear link was…
The paper reports that severe iron deficiency anemia in infancy is linked with poor health and lasting brain and behavior problems. It says lack of iron can change the hippocampus and corpus striatum and alter brain chemicals (serotonin, noradrenaline, dopamine). These brain changes are tied to behaviors in babies (wariness,…
This meta-analysis combined 14 observational studies and found that anaemia was associated with higher odds of adult depression (pooled estimate 1.43; 95% CI 1.23 to 1.65). The analysis included 10,764 cases of depression from studies with average ages between 38.4 and 75.0 years. The authors reported moderate differences across studies,…
This online survey of 1,010 Swiss women (age 18–50, mean 33.5) with a recent blood-test diagnosis of iron deficiency found very high rates of tiredness and reduced energy, common initial misdiagnosis, and measurable work absence. When the authors scaled the results to the Swiss population (assuming a 9.5% annual incidence…
This study looked at 1,447 older adults (65+) in Quebec. People who said they had anemia but had no record of anemia treatment were more likely to have symptoms of depression. People who had anemia and had treatment did not have higher odds of depression. The study was cross-sectional, used…
Using NHANES data from August 2021 to August 2023, the report found that 9.3% of people age 2 and older in the United States had anemia. Rates were higher in females (13.0%) than males (5.5%). Anemia was more common in older adults, in Black people, and in people with lower…
