Impaired intestinal iron absorption in inflammatory bowel disease correlates with disease activity and markers of inflammation but is independent of disease location

Aims: Anemia in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is multifactorial, however the two most common causes of anemia in IBD are iron deficiency and anemia of inflammation (ACI). Although the exact pathogenesis of ACI is unknown, one hypothesis suggests that-caused by the effects of inflammatory cytokines-ACI arises in part as a result of an impaired intestinal Iron absorption. Recently it has been shown, that the acute phase protein hepcidin impairs intestinal iron uptake. We therefore hypothesized that iron absorption is impaired in patients with active IBD at least in part as an increased hepcidin re…