Post-operative anaemia in femoral neck fracture patients: does it need treatment? A single blinded prospective randomised controlled trial

Abstract

A prospective randomised controlled trial was performed to establish the effect of oral iron supplementation on haemoglobin level at 4 weeks post-operative in elderly patients with fractured neck of femur undergoing surgical treatment. We single blindly randomised 68 patients into two groups. Thirty-four patients in the treatment group were compared with 32 in the control group. The treatment group received 200mg of oral iron tablets 3 times a day for 4 weeks in the post-operative period compared to nothing for the control group. The groups were comparable in all other aspects. The iron treatment resulted in significantly increased haemoglobin value at 4 weeks; 0.76 g% higher than the control group (95% CI of +0.01 to +1.51) which is statistically significant (P<0.05). There was no major complication. We recommend oral iron supplementation in elderly anaemic patients with hip fracture in the post-operative period.