Funding outcome

Hemoglobin is something that carries oxygen in the body and is very important. To make hemoglobin, you need iron. Without enough iron, you can have a low hemoglobin (anemia). Low iron (iron deficiency) anemia causes many serious symptoms that can affect school, work and daily activities. Iron deficiency anemia is a very common health problem. It is a bigger problem for young women because they lose iron during menstrual periods and pregnancy. About 1 in 10 young women has iron deficiency. It is very easy to test for iron and hemoglobin levels. There are many simple ways to treat iron deficiency anemia. Despite this, previous Albertan studies have shown that iron deficiency anemia is not diagnosed or treated properly in pregnant women. It is also not clear how other things can affect anemia in young women (for example, living in a rural place, having a low income, being of different ethnicities including indigenous or immigrant backgrounds). We would like to study this topic to try and figure out which young women are at highest risk of iron deficiency anemia and what are better ways to diagnose and treat this. To answer these questions, we will interview people who are at risk of iron deficiency and healthcare professionals who treat iron deficiency anemia to see what are the blocks to understanding and treating anemia. We will use large healthcare databases which record when people go to see doctors or visit the hospital to see how common it is for young women especially in vulnerable groups to get iron deficiency anemia. We hope that the results can help the province make better pathways to find and fix this common problem.