OBJECTIVES: Intravenous (IV) iron is the preferred treatment for patients with iron deficiency anemia (IDA) requiring rapid iron replenishment, or in whom oral iron is contraindicated, not tolerated, or ineffective. Two high-dose, rapid-infusion IV iron formulations are available in Ireland: ferric derisomaltose (FDI) and ferric carboxymaltose (FCM). Dosing differences between formulations can drive differences in the number of infusions required to treat IDA. We aimed to quantify the effect of these differences on patient travel time, distance, and annual carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in the IDA population in Ireland.

METHODS: A list of public Irish hospitals was obtained from the Health Service Executive. The mean distance from 18,627 “small areas” defined by The National Institute of Regional and Spatial Analysis to the nearest hospital was calculated, adjusted using a detour index, and weighted by population. Transport modality and CO₂ emissions data were obtained from Government sources. Numbers of FCM and FDI infusions were modeled using a published and validated methodology, combined with annual estimates of patients receiving IV iron treatment, and integrated into the transportation model to calculate mean changes in patient travel time, distance, and CO₂ emissions associated with using exclusively FDI versus exclusively FCM.

RESULTS: FDI would reduce mean iron infusions per treatment course by 0.42 from 1.77 to 1.35 (23.7%) versus FCM. Based on a multi-modality transport model to Irish hospitals, FDI was projected to reduce the mean total annual distance travelled by 235,500 km (standard deviation [SD]: 53,847) from 992,465 km (SD: 226,926 km) to 756,965 km (SD: 173,079 km) versus FCM, saving 4,688 hours (SD: 1,077 hours) of patient time and 43,400 kg (SD: 10,026 kg) of CO₂ emissions.

CONCLUSIONS: Compared with FCM, FDI reduced the number of IV infusions required, substantially reducing travel time, distance, and travel-related CO₂ emissions for patients with IDA in Ireland.