Observational studyAnaesthesia2025
Associations between non-anaemic iron deficiency and outcomes following elective surgery for colorectal cancer: a prospective cohort study.
Observational study in Anaesthesia, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Anemia-Related Red Flags as Distinctive Early Indicators for Colorectal Cancer Diagnosis in Older Adults.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Stacked random forest model for colorectal cancer detection using complete blood counts.Digital healthArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIron deficiency is present in up to 75% of patients presenting for colorectal cancer surgery. It is unclear whether iron deficiency without anaemia is associated with worse postoperative outcomes. We hypothesised that, in adults without anaemia undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer, iron deficiency would be associated with worse postoperative outcomes relative to an iron-replete state.
methodsWe performed a prospective, observational study, recruiting adults (aged ≥ 18 y) without anaemia who were undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer in 16 hospitals across Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand. Anaemia was defined as a haemoglobin concentration < 130 g.l
resultsOf 420 patients, 170 were iron deficient and 250 were iron replete. The median (IQR [range]) days alive and at home in the iron-deficient group was 84.0 (80.7-85.9 [0-88.2]) days and in the iron-replete group was 83.1 (78.7-85.1 [0-88.9]) days. The unadjusted difference in medians between groups was 0.9 (95%CI 0-1.8, p = 0.047) days and the adjusted difference was 0.9 (95%CI 0-1.80, p = 0.042) days, favouring the iron-deficient group.
conclusionsIn adult patients without anaemia undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer, iron deficiency defined by transferrin saturation < 20% was not associated with worse patient outcomes and appeared to be associated with more days alive and at home on postoperative day 90.
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