Identification and treatment of iron-deficiency anemia in pregnancy and postpartum: A systematic review and quality appraisal of guidelines using AGREE II

Background: Several international guidelines provide recommendations for the optimal management of iron-deficiency anemia (IDA) in the pregnant and postpartum populations.

Objectives: To review the quality of guidelines containing recommendations for the identification and treatment of IDA in pregnancy and postpartum using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II (AGREE II) instrument and to summarize their recommendations.

Search strategy: PubMed, Medline, and Embase databases were searched from inception to August 2, 2021. A web engine search was also performed.

Selection criteria: Clinical practice guidelines that focused on the management of IDA in pregnancy and/or postpartum populations were included.

Data collection and analysis: Included guidelines were appraised using AGREE II independently by two reviewers. Domain scores greater than 70% were considered high-quality. Overall scores of six or seven (out of a possible seven) were considered high-quality guidelines. Recommendations on IDA management were extracted and summarized.

Main results: Of 2887 citations, 16 guidelines were included. Only six (37.5%) guidelines were deemed high-quality and were recommended by the reviewers. All 16 (100%) guidelines discussed the management of IDA in pregnancy, and 10 (62.5%) also included information on the management of IDA in the postpartum period.

Conclusions: The complex interplay of racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities was rarely addressed, which limits the generalizability of the recommendations. In addition, many guidelines failed to identify barriers to implementation, strategies to improve uptake or iron treatment, and resource and cost implications of clinical recommendations. These findings highlight important areas to target future work.