Another major study appears to back the use of intravenous iron repletion in patients with heart failure (HF) and iron deficiency, strengthening largely consistent evidence, researchers say, that the treatment may improve symptoms and prevent some HF-related hospital admissions.
To be sure, the IRONMAN trial, which compared IV iron vs usual care in such patients — most with reduced ejection fraction and not hospitalized — failed to show a benefit for its primary endpoint. The 18% reduction in risk for HF hospitalization or cardiovascular (CV) death seen in the trial, however encouraging, can only be called a trend (P = .07).
But the intervention showed signs of benefit for some secondary endpoints, including quality-of-life scores, and hinted at such an effect on HF hospitalization. Risk for the latter endpoint dropped 20% (P = .085) over a median follow-up of 2.7 years.
The findings "build upon the other data we have that correcting iron deficiency can help improve well-being, and particularly reduce the risk of hospitalization, in a broad range of [HF] patients," said Paul Kalra, MD, of University of Glasgow and Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, Portsmouth, United Kingdom.
The tested regimen "was well tolerated with no safety concerns" and offers "reassurance about the long-term safety" of the IV iron it used, ferric derisomaltose (MonoFerric), in patients with HF, Kalra said at a media briefing on the trial.
