Iron deficiency anemia

Iron-deficiency anemia (British English: iron-deficiency anaemia) is a common type of anemia caused by not having enough iron in food, not absorbing the iron in food, and/or losing iron because of bleeding.

Blood film with iron deficiency anemia.

Structures of hemoglobin forms.

Illustration of backbonding in metal-CO complexes, including hemoglobin (which would lead to carbon monoxide poisoning).

This image shows the heme groups of human hemoglobin in the oxy form. The oxygen ligand binds to the iron metal center of the heme group. There is steric crowding around the O2 ligand that is responsible to prevent carbon monoxide ligand from binding.

Symptoms

Symptoms include pale skin, tiredness, and weakness.

Diagnosis

Anemia can be diagnosed with a blood test by finding out if there is little enough hemoglobin in the blood.

Prevalence

Iron deficiency causes approximately half of all anemia cases worldwide, and affects women more often than men. This is partly because most women have periods. There are probably more than one billion individuals who have anemia. Anemia is most common in areas like Brazil or Central Africa. Asia, Central America and Eastern Europe are affected too, with North America least affected.