The Global Prevalence of Iron Deficiency in Collegiate Athletes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Systematic review and meta-analysis of observational prevalence studies
PubMed 39530537 · doi:10.1002/pbc.31415
What was done
A systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the prevalence of iron deficiency among collegiate and adolescent athletes. The study pooled data from 122 references representing 17,519 athletes across 23 countries and 62 distinct sports over a 41-year timeframe.
What was found
Overall, approximately 53.9% of student-athletes were hypoferritinemic (ferritin concentration below 50 mcg/L), and 23.0% demonstrated absolute iron deficiency (ferritin concentration below 20 mcg/L).
Why it matters
Iron deficiency without anemia is common in collegiate athletes and can impair performance and health. These findings provide large-scale quantitative evidence to support routine ferritin screening guidelines in adolescent and collegiate sports.
Limits
The abstract does not report confidence intervals, heterogeneity statistics, risk of bias assessments, or sex- and sport-specific subgroup breakdowns. Potential confounding from exercise-induced inflammation altering ferritin concentrations is not detailed in the abstract.
Cited by
- supports Low iron or ferritin levels occur in more than 30% of physically active individuals.