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. 2021 May 18;11(1):10496.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-89842-9.

The risk of fibromyalgia in patients with iron deficiency anemia: a nationwide population-based cohort study

Wei-Cheng Yao  1 , Hsuan-Ju Chen  2   3 , Kam-Hang Leong  4   5 , Kai-Lan Chang  4   5 , Yu-Ting Tina Wang  4   5 , Li-Chin Wu  4   5 , Po-Ya Tung  4   5 , Chien-Feng Kuo  6   7 , Che-Chen Lin  8 , Shin-Yi Tsai  9   10   11   12
Affiliations

The risk of fibromyalgia in patients with iron deficiency anemia: a nationwide population-based cohort study

Wei-Cheng Yao et al. Sci Rep. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Since iron is essential for neurotransmitter synthesis, decreased iron stores might lead to reduced production of biogenic amines which phenomenon was shown in Fibromyalgia (FM) patients. The aims are to investigate the association of iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and FM and to find the effects of different interventions. We conducted a study using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. The IDA cohort consisted of 13,381 patients with newly diagnosed IDA between 2000 and 2008. Each patient with IDA was frequency-matched with one people without IDA, by sex, age and index year. The Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was conducted to estimate the association between IDA and FM risk. The event was the occurrence of FM. The overall incidence density rate of FM in the IDA cohort was higher than in the non-IDA cohort with a multivariable Cox proportional hazards model measured adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 1.19; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.13-1.25). When using non-IDA group as reference, we compared with different therapies for IDA. The adjusted HRs of FM were 1.38 (95% CI = 1.30-1.47), 1.10 (95% CI = 1.03-1.16), 1.18 (95% CI = 0.98-1.43) and 0.73 (95% CI = 0.58-0.90) for IDA patient without therapy, iron supplement alone, blood transfusion alone and both iron supplement and blood transfusion respectively. Our results suggest IDA is associated with an increased risk of FM. All patients should have iron supplementation both to correct anemia and replenish body stores.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The selection process of the participants in the cohort study. Abbreviation: IDA, iron deficiency anemia.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Cumulative incidence curves of fibromyalgia for groups with and without iron deficiency anemia. Abbreviation: IDA, iron deficiency anemia.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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