Aumento do risco de doença febril com altas doses de suplementação com ferro

Abstract

Increased risk of pyrexial illness with higher doses of iron supplementation♦ Dear Editor,The study conducted by da Silva et al. sets out to investigate the relative advantages and disadvantages of three different iron prophylactic regimens. 1 The authors claim that the findings about an association of iron supplementation and enhanced vulnerability to infections are controversial, and they also claim that the groups of their study did not show differences in morbidity. A close look at the data provided by the authors reveals that, if one compares the group with 2 mg/kg/day of iron supplementation with the other groups, who had 1 mg/kg/day iron or less, pooled into one group, the incidence of fever was significantly greater in the group with higher iron intake (28/36), compared to the incidence in the pooled group with half or less of this iron intake (42/77) (p = 0.03, chi-square test). The majority of comparisons (seven out of 10) in incidence of infectious diseases between the three groups reveals an (albeit not statistically significant) increased incidence in the group with 2 mg/kg/day of iron.