Prevention, Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Iron Deficiency and Iron Deficiency Anemia in Infants, Children, and Adolescents: Clinical Report

This clinical report includes strategies for the prevention of iron deficiency (ID) and iron deficiency anemia (IDA), updates for screening, as well as diagnostic and treatment recommendations. It relates broadly to children, from birth through adolescence, affected by either nutritional ID or IDA attributable to insufficient dietary iron, malabsorption, or loss of iron from heavy menstrual, gastrointestinal, or other external blood loss. Recommended diagnostic strategies emphasize important features of the history, physical examination, and informative laboratory tests available to both generalists and subspecialists. Treatment of children with ID, mild IDA, and moderate or severe IDA or when IDA is refractory or recurrent is discussed. Recommendations regarding oral iron therapy and intravenous iron treatment options are described.