To the Editor: The response of Sievert and colleagues for the Gastroenterological Society of Australia1 to an article on iron deficiency anaemia in a young woman2 missed the point. In the absence of menorrhagia, dietary deficiency of iron is extraordinarily rare unless the individual is a vegan. The young woman presented with a haemoglobin level of 61 g/L and was treated with iron supplements over a period of almost 2 years. She therefore had bleeding which was likely to be somewhere in the gastrointestinal tract.
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- 1. Sievert W, Macrae FA, Leggett BA; Gastroenterological Society of Australia. Investigating iron deficiency anaemia. Med J Aust 2013; 198: 563. <MJA full text>
- 2. Anonymous. Iron deficiency anaemia in a young woman: a plea for early investigation. Med J Aust 2013; 198: 562. <MJA full text>
- 3. Jacobs A, Butler EB, Menstrual blood-loss in iron-deficiency anaemia. Lancet 1965; 2: 407-409.
- 4. Price DC, Forsyth EM, Cohn SH, Cronkite EP. The study of menstrual and other blood loss, and consequent iron deficiency, by Fe59 whole-body counting. Can Med Assoc J 1964; 90: 51-54.
- 5. Davis DM, Marcet JE, Frattini JC, et al. Is it time to lower the recommended screening age for colorectal cancer? J Am Coll Surg 2011; 213: 352-361.
- 6. Bolin T, Benstock S, Fernon V, et al. Further evidence to lower the recommended screening age for colorectal cancer. Poster 1762. Proceedings of the 78th Annual Scientific Meeting and Postgraduate Course of the American College of Gastroenterology; 2013 Oct 11-16; San Diego, Calif.
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