Research paper
The Effect of Intermittent Antenatal Iron Supplementation on Maternal and Infant Outcomes in Rural Viet Nam: A Cluster Randomised Trial
Study answer
What this study found
Twice-weekly antenatal supplementation did not produce a clinically important improvement in birth weight or infant growth compared with daily iron-folic acid. In the twice-weekly IFA arm, mean birth weight was 3,178 [376] g and infants had a higher cognitive composite score at 6 months versus daily IFA (MD 1.89, 95% CI 0.23 to 3.56). The twice-weekly MMN arm also showed no clear advantage for birth weight, head circumference, or length-for-age z-score at 6 months, and infant cognitive scores were not clearly different from daily IFA. Overall, the findings support intermittent antenatal…
- Study & population
- Cluster randomized trial in 104 rural communes in Ha Nam Province, Viet Nam, enrolling pregnant women before 16 weeks gestation between 28 September 2010 and 5 November 2010.
- Intervention
- Pregnant women received oral twice-weekly supplementation from enrollment until 3 months postpartum.
- Key limitation
- The trial was conducted in a single rural Vietnamese setting, which limits generalizability.
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Open PDFOriginal abstract
Beverley-Anne Biggs and colleagues conduct a community-based cluster randomized trial in rural Viet Nam to compare the effect of antenatal iron-folic acid supplementation taken daily or twice weekly on maternal and infant outcomes. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary