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Fatigue is known to be a symptom of iron deficiency anemia, but whether iron deficiency, in the absence of anemia, can cause fatigue is unclear. After data from a large study showed that many iron-deficient women do not have anemia, investigators from Switzerland examined the effects of iron supplementation in 144 nonanemic women (age range, 18-55) with unexplained fatigue.
Participants were assigned randomly to receive either placebo or oral ferrous sulfate (80 mg) daily. At baseline, mean serum ferritin was 30 µg/L; 85% had serum ferritin levels of ≤50 µg/L. A 10-point visual analog scale was used at baseline and 4 weeks later to measure the patients' perception of fatigue. At 4 weeks, mean scores had decreased by 29% (from 6.4 to 4.5) in …