| Sumari: | Objective: Describe the effectiveness of continuous daily and weekly doses of
iron supplementation during pregnancy and puerperium on haemoglobin and
iron status at 6 weeks postpartum.
Design: An iron supplementation trial conducted at antenatal care centre
(ANCC) assigned randornly_·either to the daily (lx60-mg) or weekly (2x60-mg)
doses of iron supplementation.
Setting: Fifty community-based ANCCs in a rural area of Bangladesh.
Subjects: In the trial, 209 pregnant women during second trimester were
recruited. Fifty-one were lost to follow-up and the final sample size consisted of
158 women (daily n=72 and weekly n=86).
Intervention: Each woman in the daily group received I tablet (60 mg Fe) per
day and in the weekly group 2 tablets (120 mg Fe) per week. Intake of iron
tablets was monitored by the MEMS~ during 11 weeks in ~pregnancy.
Haemoglobin was assessed on venous blood by HemoCue~, serum concentrations
of ferritin by radio immunoassay and serum transferrin receptors by
immunoassay double sandwich method.
Results: At 6 weeks postpartum, haemoglobin and iron status did not differ
between the two supplementation groups. However, an overall improvement in
haemoglobin and iron status was observed compared to the baseline status.
Women who took 2:40 tablets in 11 weeks had higher haemoglobin (P=0 .05) and
SFt (P=0.04) and lower sTfR (P=0.32) at 6 weeks postpartum.
Conclusions: A lack of difference in response was observed between the daily
and weekly doses of iron supplementation. Higher number of iron tablet intake
during pregnancy and puerperium was associated with better haemoglobin and
iron status at 6 weeks postpartum.
Sponsorship: SIDA/SAREC, Sweden and BRAC, Bangladesh.
Descriptors: Anaemia, iron deficiency, daily weekly supplementation.
postpartum, Bangladesh
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