Population
Children with anaemia and inflammatory bowel disease, enrolled in the POPEYE trial, in 9 Dutch and 2 Belgian hospitals (n= 64).
Intervention
Single intravenous dose of ferric carboxymaltose (IV group), (n= 33).
Comparison
12 weeks of oral ferrous fumarate (oral group), (n= 31).
Outcome
The primary endpoint was the change in 6-minute walking distance (6MWD) from baseline, expressed as z-score. The secondary outcome was a change in Hb z-score from baseline. One month after the start of iron therapy, the 6MWD z-score of patients in the IV group had increased by 0.71 compared with -0.11 in the oral group. At 3- and 6- months follow-up, no significant differences in 6MWD z-scores were observed. Hb z-scores gradually increased in both groups and the rate of increase was not different between groups at 1, 3 and 6 months after initiation of iron therapy.