Low Dose, Short-Term Iron Supplementation in Female Blood Donors of Childbearing Age: a Randomized, Double-Masked, Placebo-Controlled Study

Background : iron supplementation for blood donors is a controversialconcept. however, to maintain regular blood donors,as a source of blood supply, the present paradigm is not appropriateand dose not prevent harms to blood donors,methods: a randomized , double-m asked , placebocontro lled s tudy, was conducted by enrolling 95 femaleregular blood donors of childbearing age ( 18-49 years). theparticipants were selected randomly (systematic randomsa mpling) from 300 donors who donated one unit of wholeblood. these individuals were randomly assigned to receive50 mg elemental iron or placebo once daily . each donorwas scheduled for serum ferritin determination at the beginning of the study, and 28th a nd 56th days after donation.adverse effects of the treatment were evaluated on 7th, 28thand 56th days .results: after one blood donati on , mean serum ferritin concentration remained largely constant in the iron group on 28thday of the treatment, (p= 0,064) whereas it was lower in theplacebo group (p= 0.001). there was no significant differencebetween the placebo and iron group in terms of the incid enceof gas tro intes tina l ad ver se effects.conclusion: th e results of the present study indi cate thatshort-te rm, low dose iron supplementa tion replace iron lossca use d by phlebotomy, protect the female regular blood donorsfrom iron deficiency, an d as sist ret a in ing thi s group ofdonors for future donation.