A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ALTERNATE IRON AND FOLIC ACID SUPPLEMENTATION REGIMES IN CHILDHOOD ANAEMIA

Abstract

Introduction: The prevalence of anaemia among children less than five years of age in India is around 70%. Anae- mia in young children puts them at a higher risk of experiencing health problems such as stunted growth, mental retardation, and increased susceptibility to infectious diseases. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of IFA supplementation (daily vs. biweekly vs. weekly regime) on haemoglobin levels of young chil- dren.

Materials & Methods: A total 740 children in age group of six months to five years were included in this commu- nity based interventional study using Systemic random sampling. The children having mild to moderate anaemia were then divided into three groups A, B and C by simple random sampling and were given Iron and Folic acid supplementation daily, biweekly and weekly respectively. Follow up data was collected after 3 months and analysed using appropriate tests.

Results: Prevalence of Anaemia was 91.1% among study participants. Comparison after 3 months showed signifi- cant change in haemoglobin levels in all three groups with mean improvement of 1.31 gm%, 0.89 gm% and 0.85 gm% in group A, B and C respectively. However, no significant difference was noted among the groups in pre as well as post intervention phase.

Conclusion: Weekly regime is as effective as daily or biweekly regime in improving haemoglobin levels in children. Moreover, it has better compliance, lesser side effects and cost of therapy. So, the same should be recommended for prophylaxis as well as treatment of mild to moderate anaemia cases.