What evidence was found regarding the effects of oral iron on adverse events, NYHA class, peak VO2 max, and distance walked in the 6-minute walk test in patients with chronic heart failure and iron deficiency?
Oral iron for people with chronic heart failure and iron deficiency appeared to show no evidence of a clinically important effect on adverse events. Oral iron appeared to show a clinically important improvement in NYHA class, which may be suggestive of an overall improvement in the severity of CHF symptoms in these patients. However, the width of the confidence intervals reduced the committee's ability to interpret this result. Oral iron showed a marginal increase in peak VO2 max and a relative decrease in distance walked in the 6-minute walk test. However, these results were reported as median and interquartile range and therefore could not be assessed for imprecision.