Which symptom would the nurse expect to observe when evaluating an infant with iron deficiency anemia?

Meat provides a source of heme iron, which is less affected by the dietary constituents that markedly diminish bioavailability than nonheme iron is. The prevalence of iron deficiency anemia is lower in geographic areas where meat is an important constituent of the diet. In areas where meat is sparse, iron deficiency is commonplace.

Substances that diminish the absorption of ferrous and ferric iron include phytates, oxalates, phosphates, carbonates, and tannates (see the image below). These substances have little effect upon the absorption of heme iron. Similarly, ascorbic acid increases the absorption of ferric and ferrous iron and has little effect upon the absorption of heme iron.

Both nonheme iron and heme iron have 6 coordinating bonds; however, 4 of the bonds in heme bind pyrroles, making them unavailable for chelation by other compounds. Therefore, ascorbic acid chelates nonheme iron to enhance absorption but has no effect upon heme iron. Many dietary components, such as phytates, phosphates, oxalates, and tannates, bind nonheme iron to decrease nonheme iron absorption. They do not affect heme. This explains why heme is so effectively absorbed with foods containing these chelators. Iron hemoglobin structure.

Purified heme is absorbed poorly because heme polymerizes into macromolecules. Globin degradation products diminish heme polymerization, making it more available for absorption. They also increase the absorption of nonheme iron because the peptides from degraded globin bind the iron to prevent both precipitation and polymerization; thus, absorption of the iron in spinach is increased when the spinach eaten with meat. Heme and nonheme iron uptake by intestinal absorptive cells is noncompetitive.

Bleeding for any reason produces iron depletion. If sufficient blood loss occurs, iron deficiency anemia ensues (see the image below). A single sudden loss of blood produces a posthemorrhagic anemia that is normocytic. The bone marrow is stimulated to increase production of hemoglobin, thereby depleting iron in body stores. Once they are depleted, hemoglobin synthesis is impaired and microcytic hypochromic erythrocytes are produced.

Sequential changes in laboratory values following blood loss are depicted. A healthy human was bled 5 L in 500-mL increments over 45 days. A moderate anemia ensued, initially with normal cellular indices and serum iron. Subsequently, the mean corpuscular volume (MCV) increased as iron was mobilized from body stores and reticulocytosis occurred. The serum iron decreased, followed by an increase in the total iron-binding capacity. Gradual decreases in the red blood cell indices occurred, with maximal microcytosis and hypochromia present 120 days after bleeding. Values returned to normal approximately 250 days after blood loss. At the end of the experiment, iron was absent from body stores (marrow) because hemoglobin has a first priority for iron. Iron-59 absorption was increased after all values returned to normal in order to replenish the body store with iron. This suggests that the serum iron, total iron-binding capacity, hemoglobin concentration, and indices were not the primary regulators of iron absorption.

Maximal changes in the red blood cell (RBC) cellular indices occur in approximately 120 days, at a time when all normal erythrocytes produced prior to the hemorrhage are replaced by microcytes. Before this time, the peripheral smear shows a dimorphic population of erythrocytes, normocytic cells produced before bleeding, and microcytic cells produced after bleeding. This is reflected in the red blood cell distribution width (RDW); thus, the earliest evidence of the development of an iron-deficient erythropoiesis is seen in the peripheral smear, in the form of increased RDW.

Iron deficiency anemia can occur from loss of body iron in the urine. If a freshly obtained urine specimen appears bloody but contains no red blood cells, suspect hemoglobinuria. Obtain confirmation in the laboratory that the pigment is hemoglobin and not myoglobin. This can be accomplished easily because 60% ammonium sulfate precipitates hemoglobin but not myoglobin.

Hemoglobinuria classically is ascribed to paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, but it can occur with any brisk intravascular hemolytic anemia. In the early days of heart surgery with implantation of artificial valves, this mechanism of producing iron deficiency anemia was commonplace in large university hospitals. Today, with better prostheses, it has become a less frequent clinical problem. With less severe hemolytic disorders, there may be no significant hemoglobinuria.

Investigate renal loss of iron by staining the urine sediment for iron. Hemosiderin is detected intracellularly. Most of these patients have a low or absent plasma haptoglobin. Similarly, pulmonary hemosiderosis can result in sufficient loss of iron as hemosiderin from the lungs.

Prolonged achlorhydria may produce iron deficiency because acidic conditions are required to release ferric iron from food. Then, it can be chelated with mucins and other substances (eg, amino acids, sugars, amino acids, or amides) to keep it soluble and available for absorption in the more alkaline duodenum.

Starch and clay eating produce malabsorption of iron and iron deficiency anemia. Specific inquiry is required to elicit a history of either starch or clay eating because patients do not volunteer the information.

Extensive surgical removal of the proximal small bowel or chronic diseases (eg, untreated sprue or celiac syndrome) can diminish iron absorption. In patients who have undergone bariatric surgery, postoperative gastric hypochlorhydria impairs iron absorption; in those who have undergone Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery, bypass of the duodenum impairs reduction of iron to the ferrous (absorbable) state. In addition, patients tend to eat less food after bariatric surgery, often less meat, which leads to decreased intake of heme iron. [6]

Rarely, patients with no history of malabsorption have iron deficiency anemia and fail to respond to oral iron therapy. Most merely are noncompliant with therapy.

Before placing these patients on parenteral therapy, document iron malabsorption either by measuring absorption of radioiron or by obtaining a baseline fasting serum-iron concentration and repeating the test 30 minutes and 1 hour after administration of a freshly prepared oral solution of ferrous sulfate (50-60 mg of iron) under observation. The serum iron should increase by 50% over the fasting specimen.

Iron-refractory iron deficiency anemia (IRIDA) is a hereditary disorder marked by with iron deficiency anemia that is typically unresponsive to oral iron supplementation and may be only partially responsive to parenteral iron therapy. IRIDA results from variants in the TMPRSS6 gene that lead to uninhibited production of hepcidin. IRIDA is characterized by microcytic, hypochromic anemia and serum hepcidin values that are inappropriately high for body iron levels.

Most patients with IRIDA are women. Age at presentation, disease severity, and response to iron supplementation are highly variable, even within families, with a few patients responding to oral iron but most requiring parenteral iron supplementation. [8]

An uncommon form of IRIDA occurs in postmenopausal women with androgen deficiency that leads to primary defective iron reutilization. This condition only responds to androgen replacement. [9, 10]