To the Editor.—
Regarding the article by Fred Rosner, in the July issue of the Archives (138:1129, 1978) on shotgun hematinic therapy, I certainly concur, at least in spirit, with the idea that shotgun hematinic therapy is to be eschewed. It is unfortunate, however, that the author compromised his legitimacy by rambling and making statements that, to my knowledge, cannot be substantiated, at least by a general review of his topic in the literature.First, on the point of combination hematinics for patients with anemia who have diagnosed iron deficiency anemia, I must state that in my experience, there is a very wide variability in clinical response with the different types of preparations available. It seems to me, in my clinical practice, that preparations that do include folic acid, vitamin C, and possibly other vitamins, seem to work much better than ferrous sulfate or ferrous fumarate, or for that matter,