Effect of Iron Therapy on Platelet Function among Iron-Deficient Women with Unexplained Menorrhagia

This study was performed to evaluate the effect of iron therapy on platelet function among women with unexplained menorrhagia in order to better understand possible interactions between iron deficiency anemia and platelet behavior and menorrhagia. Platelet aggregation and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) release induced by 5.0 mM adenosine diphosphate (ADP), 0.5 mM arachidonic acid (AA), 1.0 mg/ml ristocetin and 2 microg/ml collagen were studied by whole-blood platelet lumi-aggregometer in 50 menorrhagic women before and after oral iron therapy and in 22 women of the control group. There was a significant increase in AA- induced platelet aggregation (p < 0.05) and a decrease in ristocetin-induced platelet aggregation (p < 0.01) after treatment. Pre- and posttreatment platelet aggregation responses to ADP and collagen were not significantly different (p > 0.05). Pre- and posttreatment platelet secretion responses to all agonists disclosed no significant difference (p > 0.05). There was no significant difference between the study group after treatment and the control group in respect to platelet aggregation and ATP secretion values induced by all agonists (p > 0.05). We conclude that iron deficiency anemia in women causes AA-induced platelet dysfunction, which may give rise to increased menstrual blood loss and can be reversed by iron repletion.