NCT00992823

Iron Supplementation to Reduce Preschoolers Anemia: Comparison Between Intermittent and Cyclic Procedure

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 99 (actual)
• Sponsor: Sao Jose do Rio Preto Medical School · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 24 Months – 59 Months
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of iron supplements given at intervals corresponding to the mean life of red blood cells compared to weekly supplementation, in reducing the prevalence of preschool anemia. Method: Ninety-nine children from public day care centers with ages from 24 to 59 months old were randomly divided into two groups. All the children received 40 doses of 30 mg of ferrous sulfate during a 10-month intervention period. Group 1 received once weekly supplementation and Group 2 received supplementation in two 5-month cycles, each cycle consisting of one month of supplementation (20 workdays) and four months without supplementation.

Detailed description

The prevalence of anemia after the supplementation regimens reduced from 20.20% to 5.05% (P \< 0.0005); the reduction was not significantly different between the two groups (P = 0.35). The mean hemoglobin concentration increased in both groups (Group 1: 0.27 g/dL; P \< 0.016 and Group 2: 0.47 g/dL; P \< 0.0005) without significant differences between the groups (P = 0.17).

Conditions

• Anemia

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DRUG	iron supplementation	40 doses of 30 mg of ferrous sulfate during a 10-month intervention period
BIOLOGICAL	iron supplementation	supplementation in two 5-month cycles, each cycle consisting of one month of supplementation (20 workdays) and four months without supplementation.

Timeline

• Start date: 2006-03-01
• Primary completion: 2007-02-01
• Completion: 2008-07-01
• First posted: 2009-10-09
• Last updated: 2009-10-15

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Brazil