Assessment of Iron Status in Adolescents Presenting to the Emergency Department With Heavy Menstrual Bleeding.

OBJECTIVE

Iron deficiency is extremely common in adolescents with heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) presenting to the emergency department; however, patients are rarely screened for this. The objective of this study was to evaluate screening for iron deficiency in adolescents presenting to the emergency department for HMB.

METHODS

This is a secondary analysis of a single-center, cross-sectional observational study using retrospective chart review. The study subjects are adolescents ages 11 to 19 years with International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification/International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification, codes for HMB who presented to the emergency department at a national tertiary care hospital from 2006 to 2018. Pregnant adolescents with HMB were excluded. Chart abstraction for demographic data, symptoms, laboratory tests, treatments, and outcomes was performed. The main outcome measure was the number of adolescents who had an iron evaluation in the emergency department and were discharged on oral iron.

RESULTS

Of the 258 nonpregnant adolescents who sought care for HMB in the emergency department, 225 (87.2%) were evaluated with serum hemoglobin testing. Ninety-four (41.7%) of those tested were anemic. Only 23 of the 258 patients (8.9%) had iron studies (serum ferritin) performed; 18 of 23 (78.3%) had iron deficiency and 21 of 23 (92.3%) were anemic. Subjects presenting with fatigue, headache, or palpitations were more likely to have iron studies performed than those without these symptoms (all P < 0.01). Thirty-two of the 258 subjects (12.4%) were discharged on oral iron therapy, which included only 15 of the 18 subjects (83.3%) with iron deficiency determined by ferritin testing.

CONCLUSIONS

Adolescents presenting to the emergency department with HMB are at significant risk of iron deficiency but are not being screened or treated, which may have significant consequences.