Table 2.

Relationship Between IV Iron Use and Infection Risk in Non-CKD Populations in Meta-analyses

Analysis	Studies and Populations Included	Comparison	Results
Shah78 (2019)	6 RCTs conducted in adults admitted to surgical intensive care unit (4 studies) or mixed intensive care units (2 studies); N = 805	Iron vs no iron (5 trials included an IV iron arm)	No difference in risk for in-hospital infection; risk ratio, 0.95 (95% CI, 0.79-1.19)
Shin79 (2019)	12 clinical studies of patients undergoing orthopedic surgery; 4 RCTs (N = 616); 8 case-controlled studies (N = 1,253)	Perioperative IV iron vs no IV iron	IV iron was associated with lower risk for postoperative infection; risk ratio, 0.67 (95% CI, 0.49-0.91)
Shah80 (2018)	2 RCTs conducted in adults undergoing hip fracture surgery; (N = 503)	IV iron vs control	No difference in risk for infection; risk ratio, 0.99 (95% CI, 0.55-1.80)
Litton81 (2013)	72 RCTs conducted in renal (n = 19), obstetric (n = 19), surgical (n = 11), oncology/hematology (n = 11), cardiology (n = 4), gastroenterology (n = 4), and other (n = 7) settings; (total N = 10,605)	IV iron vs oral/no iron	In 24 studies with data, IV iron was associated with increased risk for all-cause infection; relative risk, 1.33 (95% CI, 1.10-1.64); no interaction between baseline ferritin, TSAT, iron dose, or ESA use and risk for infection

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; CKD, chronic kidney disease; ESA, erythropoiesis-stimulating agent; IV, intravenous; RCT, randomized controlled trial; TSAT, transferrin saturation.