Previous article

Antidepressants vs Placebo for Moderate to Severe Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Child With a Single Small Lesion

Cochrane for Clinicians

Safety and Effectiveness of Intravenous vs Oral Iron for Treatment of Anemia in the Prenatal and Postpartum Periods

Andrew Foley, MD, MPH, AAHIVS,

Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Chelsea Community Health Center, Boston

American Family Physician. 2025;112(4):378-379.

This clinical content conforms to AAFP criteria for CME.

1.Nicholson L, Axon E, Daru J, et al. Effect and safety of intravenous iron compared to oral iron for treatment of iron deficiency anaemia in pregnancy. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2024(12):CD016136.
2.Jensen MCH, Holm C, Jørgensen KJ, et al. Treatment for women with postpartum iron deficiency anaemia. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2024(12):CD010861.
3.de Benoist B, McLean E, Egli I, et al. Worldwide prevalence of anaemia 1993–2005. WHO Global Database on Anaemia; 2008.
4.World Health Organization. Anaemia in women of reproductive age (15–49), prevalence (%), by pregnancy status. WHO; 2019. Accessed August 12, 2025.
5.Benson AE, Lo JO, Caughey AB. Iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia during pregnancy—opportunities to optimize perinatal health and health equity. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(8):e2429151.
6.Recommendations to prevent and control iron deficiency in the United States. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. MMWR Recomm Rep. 1998;47(RR-3):1-29.
7.Anemia in pregnancy. ACOG Practice Bulletin, Number 233. Obstet Gynecol. 2021;138(2):e55-e64.

These are summaries of reviews from the Cochrane Library.

This series is coordinated by Corey D. Fogleman, MD, assistant medical editor.

A collection of Cochrane for Clinicians published in AFP is available at https://www.aafp.org/afp/cochrane.

Previous article

Antidepressants vs Placebo for Moderate to Severe Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Child With a Single Small Lesion

Copyright © 2026 by the American Academy of Family Physicians.

This content is owned by the AAFP. A person viewing it online may make one printout of the material and may use that printout only for his or her personal, non-commercial reference. This material may not otherwise be downloaded, copied, printed, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any medium, whether now known or later invented, except as authorized in writing by the AAFP. See permissions for copyright questions and/or permission requests.