Tip of the iceberg: Extra–haematological consequences of early iron deficiency

Abstract

Iron deficiency in early pregnancy and childhood can potentially have long-lasting effects on brain development and cognitive abilities and is ultimately engrossed with many confounding factors which need to be separated from the disease process in order to appreciate the real impact of this condition. Long-term studies are needed to assess whether normalisation of cognitive abilities with iron repletion therapy occurs, as they are currently sparse in the literature.

Keywords

• Iron deficiency
• extra-haematological
• consequences