Abstract
Background: Iron deficiency anemia screening and iron supplementation in infants aged 6-12 months are recommended in the Guideline in Child Health Supervision. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of weekly iron supplementation compared with daily supplementation in improving the iron status in infants.Methods: A single-blind randomized controlled trial was conducted in infants aged 6 months visiting the Well Child Clinic between May 2019 and November 2020 at Burapha University Hospital, Chonburi, Thailand. The intervention consisted of either daily or weekly iron supplementation combined with iron-rich complementary food promotion for six months. The outcomes were the differences of serum ferritin and hematological variables before and after being iron supplemented. Results: Sixty-nine six-month-old healthy infants were randomized to receive either 10 mg Fe/day (daily group) or 30 mg Fe/week (weekly group). Forty-five infants (daily group; n = 24 and weekly group; n = 21) completed the intervention. After the six-month period of iron supplementation, the mean differences of serum ferritin in the daily and the weekly group were 8.78±37.21 and -13.05 ±17.53 ng/mL, respectively (95%CI: 4.54, 39.12; P=0.015). The mean differences of hemoglobin in the daily and the weekly group were 0.58±0.82 and 0.08±0.59 g/dL, respectively (95%CI: 0.06, 0.93; P=0.026). Daily supplementation could prevent iron deficiency more than weekly supplementation significantly (P=0.029), particularly in the exclusive breastfeeding subgroup (P=0.032).Conclusions: Daily iron supplementation is more effective than weekly iron supplementation in improving iron status and hemoglobin level in infants, especially in the exclusively breast-feds.Trial registration: TCTR20191107001, November 7th, 2019. Retrospectively registered, http://www.thaiclinicaltrials.org
The benefits of iron supplementation following blood donation vary with baseline iron status
