At the request of the Division of Nutrition, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Committee on the Prevention, Detection, and Management of Iron Deficiency Anemia Among U.S. Children and Women of Childbearing Age was established under the auspices of the Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to prepare a report on the prevention, detection, and management of iron deficiency anemia in infants and young children and in women of childbearing age.
The Committee's Charge And Approach
The committee's charge included the following:
- to conduct a critical review of the information related to public health-oriented prevention, detection, and management of iron deficiency anemia, with primary emphasis on infants and children and secondary emphasis on women of childbearing age;
- to develop specific guidelines and recommendations for the prevention, detection, and management of iron deficiency anemia in primary health care and public health clinic settings for both of these population groups, including ways to influence the roles of health care providers in these activities; and
- to develop priorities for research related to a public health-oriented approach to the prevention, detection, and management of iron deficiency anemia.
The committee also was charged with considering the need for adaptations of the recommended guidelines, if any, for members of minority groups.
The six FNB committee members were selected for their expertise in iron nutrition, hematology, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, and epidemiology. Because of the short time span of this project, the FNB commissioned a background paper in advance of the committee's first meeting. That paper—a comprehensive review of the science and current policy related to iron deficiency anemia—appears as Appendix B to this report. The committee met twice to read the background paper, collect and consider additional information, identify gaps in knowledge, and prepare draft guidelines as requested by the