Pathogenesis and management of iron deficiency anemia: emerging role of celiac disease, helicobacter pylori, and autoimmune gastritis.

The causes of iron deficiency vary significantly during different stages of life, and according to gender and socioeconomic circumstances. Although dietary iron is important, iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is mostly attributed to blood loss and may be the presenting clinical feature of occult bleeding from the gastrointestinal (GI) tract heralding underlying malignancy. Conventional GI diagnostic workup fails to establish the cause of iron deficiency in about one third of patients.