Are You Iron Deficient? 8 Things Women Should Know > News > Yale Medicine

Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency worldwide (particularly affecting women), and it’s an easy one to miss. Many women brush off symptoms, such as fatigue, dizziness, and brain fog, maybe blaming poor sleep or a demanding job. There are no routine iron deficiency screening recommendations in the United States—if you go for an annual physical and don’t ask about it, your primary care provider may not include it in your blood work.

Sustained iron deficiency can lead to anemia, a more serious condition that can result in problems such as heart conditions, as well as complications during pregnancy and in the postpartum period.

Regardless of whether it progresses to anemia, iron deficiency can leave some people feeling miserable.

“Women of reproductive age bear most of the burden of iron deficiency,” says Yale Medicine hematologist Layla Van Doren, MD, MBA. That’s because menstruation causes blood and iron loss, which men do not experience. Pregnancy, in particular, is a vulnerable time that increases the risk of iron deficiency. This is because much more iron is required during this period to support the developing fetus, she says. “Because we are not routinely screening for low iron, we don’t really know the true burden of iron deficiency for women going into pregnancy,” she adds.

Research estimates that up to one-third of women of reproductive age in the United States may not have enough iron in their bodies, Dr. Van Doren says. In 2023, a study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), showed that almost 40% of females ages 12 to 21 years are iron deficient.

We asked Dr. Van Doren what women need to know about iron deficiency—and what to do if you develop iron-deficiency anemia.