Long-term preventive mass prescription of weekly doses of iron sulfate may be highly effective to reduce endemic child anemia

Revista Brasileira de Epidemiologia

Szarfarc, Sophia Cornbluth³  Gross, Rainer¹  Conde, Wolney Lisboa⁴  Brunken, Gisela Soares²  Monteiro, Carlos Augusto³ 

[1] Universidade Federal de Mato-Grosso, Eschborn, Germany;Universidade Federal de Mato-Grosso;Universidade de São Paulo;Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo

关键词: Anemia;    Iron-deficiency;    Iron weekly supplementation;    Dietary supplements;    Children;    Nutritional intervention;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S1415-790X2002000100009

学科分类：过敏症与临床免疫学

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

Iron-deficiencyanemia in children remains one of the most important nutritional problems facedby developing countries. Well-controlled efficacy studies show that intermittentiron supplementation can improve children's iron status as well as the traditionaldaily schedule. This gives new impetus to controlling child anemia by weeklypreventive iron supplementation. The objective of this study is to evaluatethe effectiveness of long-term preventive provision of weekly doses of ironsulfate to all children from 6 to 59 months of age, in a child population inwhich anemia is highly prevalent.
Childrenfrom both the intervention and control groups were selected from a random cross-sectionalsample of the child population of the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Parentsin the intervention group were visited in their homes and received nutritioneducation plus a solution of iron sulfate with the request to give it to theirchildren once a week until a follow-up visit occurred in approximately six months.Parents in the control group received only nutrition education. The effect ofthe intervention was assessed by changes in hemoglobin concentration and theprevalence of anemia. Comparisons between the two groups were made based onan intention-to-treat approach, and all estimates were adjusted for initialhemoglobin concentration, initial age, total duration of follow-up and familyincome.
The averagehemoglobin gain due to the intervention was 4.0 g/l, with a fall of more than50% in the prevalence of anemia among the children. The intervention was particularlyeffective in preventing declines in hemoglobin concentration during the firsttwo years of life. This study demonstrates that long-term preventive weeklyiron supplementation for preschool children significantly reduces the risk ofanemia under conditions similar to those possible in routine public health programs.

【 授权许可】

CC BY