Journal article
Global, regional and national burden of dietary iron deficiency from 1990 to 2021: a Global Burden of Disease study
Nature medicine, v 31(6), pp 1809-1829
01 Jun 2025
PMID: 40263631
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Although iron deficiency is well documented, less is known about dietary involvement in symptomatic iron deficiency manifesting in medical conditions. In this study, we quantified the global burden of dietary iron deficiency, focusing on where inadequate dietary iron intake leads to clinical manifestations such as anemia. We analyzed data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 to estimate dietary iron deficiency prevalence and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), stratified by age, sex, geography and socio-demographic index (SDI) across 204 countries. In 2021, global age-standardized prevalence and DALY rates were 16,434.4 (95% uncertainty interval (UI), 16,186.2–16,689.0) and 423.7 (285.3–610.8) per 100,000 population, with rates decreasing by 9.8% (8.1–11.3) and 18.2% (15.4–21.1) from 1990 to 2021. A higher burden was observed in female individual (age-standardized prevalence, 21,334.8 (95% UI, 20,984.8–21,697.4); DALYs, 598.0 (402.6–854.4)) than in male individual ((age-standardized prevalence, 11,684.7 (11,374.6–12,008.8); DALYs, 253.0 (167.3–371.0)). High-SDI countries presented greater improvement, with a 25.7% reduction compared to 11.5% in low-SDI countries. Despite global improvements, dietary iron deficiency remains a major health concern with a global prevalence of 16.7%, particularly affecting female individuals, children and residents in low-SDI countries. Urgent interventions through supplementation, food security measures and fortification initiatives are essential.
Systematic analysis from the Global Burden of Disease study reported that, despite global improvements from 1990 to 2021, dietary iron deficiency-associated disease burden remains high in women, children and residents in low socio-demographic index countries.
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Details
- Title
- Global, regional and national burden of dietary iron deficiency from 1990 to 2021: a Global Burden of Disease study
- Creators
- Sooji Lee - Kyung Hee UniversityYejun Son - Kyung Hee UniversityJiyoung Hwang - Kyung Hee UniversityMin Seo Kim - Broad InstituteJae Il Shin - Yonsei UniversityDong Keon Yon - Kyung Hee UniversityNicholas. J. Kassebaum - University of Washington
- Publication Details
- Nature medicine, v 31(6), pp 1809-1829
- Publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- Number of pages
- 21
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- College of Medicine
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001508747000001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-105008398095
- Other Identifier
- 991022197305604721
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
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- Collaboration types
- Industry collaboration
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
- Cell Biology
- Medicine, Research & Experimental