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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2011 Dec;57(6):433-8.
doi: 10.1093/tropej/fmq119. Epub 2011 Feb 1.

Weekly iron supplementation for the prevention of anemia in pre-school children: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Francisco Plácido Nogueira Arcanjo  1 , Cecília Costa Arcanjo, Olga Maria Silverio Amancio, Josefina Aparecida Pellegrini Braga, Alvaro Jorge Madeiro Leite
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Weekly iron supplementation for the prevention of anemia in pre-school children: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Francisco Plácido Nogueira Arcanjo et al. J Trop Pediatr. 2011 Dec.

Abstract

Objective: This study analyses the impact of weekly iron supplementation with ferrous sulphate heptahydrate (FeSO4) in 5-year-olds compared with placebo, on hemoglobin (Hb) and hematocrit (Ht) values and anemia.

Design: The study concerns a cluster-randomized, placebo-controlled double-blind trial. Intervention participants received 50 mg elemental iron for 14 weeks.

Setting: The study population comprised pre-school children (n = 135) from one randomly chosen public school in the northeast of Brazil.

Subjects: Participants were 5-year-old students from a public school.

Results: Mean Hb and Ht values increased after iron supplementation, with p < 0.0001. There was no statistically significant increase in the placebo group. After intervention, anemia prevalence reduced only in the intervention group, from 48.0% to 26.0%.

Conclusions: Weekly iron supplementation was effective in reducing anemia in 5-year-olds.

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