Iron Deficiency Day 2022

CSL Vifor calls to take iron seriously

Regulatory News:

Tomorrow is Iron Deficiency Day. For the eighth consecutive year, CSL Vifor is supporting a growing alliance of international organizations including the Heart Failure Policy Network, European Kidney Health Alliance, Global Heart Hub and Croí the West of Ireland Cardiac Foundation to advocate people at risk to listen to their body, to take iron seriously and to take control over their health by seeking early diagnosis and medical help from their physician.

“We are pleased to join our patients, healthcare professionals and partners in supporting Iron Deficiency Day 2022, a call for people around the world to get informed and to understand what can happen when iron levels are not properly managed,” said Hervé Gisserot, General Manager of CSL Vifor. “We are dedicated to building awareness of iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia, to help patients understand their symptoms, improve access and ultimately receive appropriate treatment.”

Iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia affect one in every two chronic heart failure patients ^2,3 and is associated with reduced quality of life⁴, reduced exercise capacity and increased risk of hospitalization⁵. Despite the serious consequences and high prevalence of iron deficiency, the condition remains under-recognized⁶.

The importance of iron for the health of heart failure patients was recently highlighted in the new whitepaper “Heart Failure, an inconvenient truth” which advocates for an extension of current heart failure management strategies to include and increasingly focus on improving quality of life. This includes early diagnosis and treatment of iron deficiency.

“Iron deficiency is a highly prevalent and serious condition among heart failure patients and has a significant impact on their quality of life,”, said Steven Macari, President of AVEC France and co-author of Heart Failure, an inconvenient truth. “It is easily diagnosed and treatable, yet many primary care professionals often overlook symptoms of iron deficiency like fatigue and breathlessness as expected comorbidities of heart failure, and it is often the proactive empowered patient who informs and suggests to be tested. It is therefore vital that we inform practitioners around the importance of diagnosing and treating iron deficiency in patients at risk, and that patient organizations inform their members.”