Effect of weekly iron supplementation on iron indices in pregnant women

The serum iron and ferritin concentrations decline after midpregnancy. The amount of dietary iron, together with that mobilized from stores, will be insufficient to meet the average demands imposed by pregnancy. Without supplementation, the haemoglobin concentration and hematocrit fall appreciably as the blood volume increases leading to iron deficiency anaemia (IDA).

To compare effectiveness of weekly supplementation of 200 mg elemental iron with daily supplementation of 100 mg elemental iron on iron indices along with haemoglobin and hematocrit values in pregnant women.

A prospective randomised longitudinal study was conducted at a tertiary care teaching hospital. Study included 100 pregnant women randomly allocated to two groups. Group I (n=50) received daily iron and group II (n=50) received weekly iron supplementation. During follow-up haemoglobin and hematocrit values were estimated at 4, 8, 12 and 16 weeks of iron supplementation.

serum iron, total iron binding capacity (TIBC) and serum ferritin were estimated before and after 12 and 16 weeks of iron supplementation.

Significant increase in haemoglobin, hematocrit and serum iron levels was ovserved in both the groups (p < 0.001) but on intergroup comparison it was significantly higher in group I than group II (p < 0.001). Serum ferritin improved in both the groups but improvement was not significant in weekly supplemented group. Compliance was better and side-effects were less in group II as compared to group I (11.36% versus 39.9%).

The weekly supplementation with 200 mg of elemental iron of pregnant women had desired effect on iron indices except for the serum ferritin level which can be overcome by extending the supplementation to the post-partum period.