Hypophosphatemia after high-dose intravenous iron treatment in patients with inflammatory bowel disease: Mechanisms and possible clinical impact

Table 4 Descriptive visual analogue scale score for patient groups with/without hypophosphatemia independent of treatment group

VAS item	Normal phosphate group, baseline, mean ± SD	Hypophosphatemia group, baseline, mean ± SD	Difference1 at baseline, mean (95%CI)	P value	Normal phosphate group, change at week 2, mean ± SD	Hypophosphatemia group, change at week 2, mean ± SD	Difference1 at week 2, mean (95%CI)	P value	Normal phosphate group, change at week 6, mean ± SD	Hypophosphatemia group, change at week 6, mean ± SD	Difference1 at week 6, mean (95%CI)	P value
General weakness	43.54 ± 28.7	31.17 ± 30.5	12.4 (-7.6 to 32.4)	0.205	-4.98 ± 14.9	-1.50 ± 17.2	-3.5 (-14.7 to 7.7)	0.515	-10.64 ± 21.9)	-6.33 ± 25.7	-4.3 (-21.1 to 12.5)	0.589
Fatigue	37.53 ± 30.0	29.58 ± 30.1	7.9 (-11.8 to 27.7)	0.403	-3.31 ± 19.4	-1.33 ± 17.9	-2.0 (-13.9 to 9.9)	0.728	-8.93 ± 22.0	-5.17 ± 26.7	-3.8 (-21.2 to 13.6)	0.648
Joint pain	17.30 ± 23.3	8.25 ± 14.8	9.1 (-1.2 to 19.3)	0.081	0.32 ± 14.3	-3.09 ± 6.9	3.4 (-1.9 to 8.7)	0.197	2.17 ± 18.0	0.17 ± 7.4	2.0 (-3.8 to 7.8)	0..489
Joint stiffness	13.31 ± 22.3	1.42 ± 3.4	11.9 (6.9 to 16.8)	< 0.001	-0.57 ± 18.1	-0.64 (2.1)	0.1 (-3.9 to 4.0)	0.972	0.99 ± 17.7	1.75 ± 8.5	-0.8 (-7.1 to 5.6)	0.807
Muscle pain	15.35 ± 23.1	5.83 ± 14.5	9.5 (-0.5 to 19.6)	0.062	-1.71 ± 14.6	2.45 (8.9)	-4.2 (-10.7 to 2.3)	0.194	-0.50 ± 20.6	-0.17 ± 11.0	-0.3 (-8.3 to 7.6)	0.932
Bone and skeletal pain	7.24 ± 19.4	1.92 ± 6.6	5.3 (-0.3 to 10.9)	0.061	1.85 ± 20.2	2.64 (8.7)	-0.8 (-7.7 to 6.1)	0.817	3.42 ± 18.7	-1.67 ± 6.8	5.1 (-0.5 to 10.7)	0.076
Difficulties performing daily activities	34.38 ± 28.5	29.67 ± 29.7	4.7 (-14.8 to 24.2)	0.611	-3.80 ± 14.9	-2.17 (23.5)	-1.6 (-16.8 to 13.5)	0.819	-9.45 ± 20.0	-11.00 ± 24.8	1.6 (-14.6 to 17.7)	0.839

Hypophosphatemia defined as serum phosphate < 0.8 mmol/L (< 2.5 mg/dL).

¹Differences are normal phosphate group minus hypophosphatemia group. CI: Confidence interval; VAS: Visual analogue scale.