Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Impact of treating iron deficiency, diagnosed according to hepcidin quantification, on outcomes after a prolonged ICU stay compared to standard care: a multicenter, randomized, single-blinded trial.
Anemia is a significant problem in patients on ICU. Its commonest cause, iron deficiency (ID), is difficult to diagnose in the context of inflammation. Hepcidin is a new marker of ID. We aimed to assess whether hepcidin levels would accurately guide treatment of ID in critically ill anemic patients after a prolonged ICU stay and affect the post-ICU outcomes. ⋯ Treatment of ID diagnosed according to hepcidin levels did not reduce the post-ICU LOS, but was associated with a significant reduction in D90 mortality and with improved 1-year survival in critically ill patients about to be discharged after a prolonged stay.