American Academy of Pediatrics Updates Guidance on Prevention, Screening and Treatment for Iron Deficiency in Infants, Children and Teens

 ITASCA, IL--The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has updated its clinical guidance on iron deficiency in children, expanding recommendations to include all children from infancy through adolescence. The clinical report, “Prevention, Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Iron Deficiency and Iron Deficiency Anemia in Infants, Children, and Adolescents,” published in the July 2026 Pediatrics (published online June 22) updates prevention and screening recommendations based on age and clinical risk factors. The AAP outlines best practices for diagnosis and treatment grounded in evidence and expert consensus.

From 2003 to 2010, at least 15% of toddlers and 11% of female teens were affected by iron deficiency; recent data suggest even higher rates in the latter group. Iron deficiency can impact the cognitive abilities of children and adolescents, result in fatigue, and if unrecognized, can progress to anemia. Prevention starts early, including delayed cord clamping at birth, early iron supplementation for preterm infants, and iron supplementation for exclusively breastfed infants by 6 months of age. Ensuring appropriate dietary iron and limiting excessive milk intake is important for infants and young children after 1 year of age. Assessing and addressing heavy menstrual bleeding in adolescents who are post-menarche is also critical.

Treatment focuses on addressing the cause and restoring iron levels with a simple, once‑daily oral iron therapy that is effective for most children and adolescents. The clinical report was written by the AAP Section on Hematology-Oncology, AAP Committee on Nutrition, and American Society of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology. AAP clinical reports are written by medical experts, reflect the latest evidence in the field, and go through several rounds of peer review before being approved by the AAP Board of Directors and published in Pediatrics. 

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.