An update on iron therapy as an intervention to reduce blood transfusion for patients undergoing hip fracture surgery

Editor—Preoperative anaemia occurs in one-third of patients and is associated with an increased risk of blood transfusion, patient morbidity, and mortality.1,2 The leading cause of anaemia is iron deficiency, with several studies exploring the use of iron around the time of surgery.3 Preoperative iron therapy has become a plausible and attractive therapeutic intervention to reduce patient complications. However, large RCTs have not supported the anticipated benefits suggested by observational and associative data.