AUTHOR=Fatima Tarannum , Faridi Mohammad Moonis Akbar , Srivastava Geetika 

TITLE=Iron status of exclusively breastfed low-birth-weight infants born to anemic mothers and effect of maternal iron supplementation for 3 versus 6 months: A randomized double-blind placebo control trial

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pediatrics

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pediatrics/articles/10.3389/fped.2022.880431

DOI=10.3389/fped.2022.880431

ISSN=2296-2360

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p>The effect of maternal iron supplementation during lactation on the iron status of exclusively breastfed low-birth-weight (LBW) infants is not known.</p></sec><sec><title>Objective</title><p>(1) To find out the number of LBW exclusively breastfed infants having hemoglobin &lt; 10.5 g/dL at 6 months when mothers received iron. (2) To find out the proportion of anemic infants when mothers received iron for 3 and 6 months.</p></sec><sec><title>Design</title><p>The Clinical Trials Registry, India (CTRI) registered trial (CTRI/2018/08/015516) double-blind randomized control trial participants: A total of 80 anemic mothers and exclusively breastfed LBW infants.</p></sec><sec><title>Intervention</title><p>A total of 80 anemic mothers and exclusively breastfed infants, birth weight 1,500–2,499 g, randomized into two groups of 40 each. Mothers received daily iron for 3 months and placebo for the next 3 months in group A and iron for 6 months in group B. Iron profile of mothers and infants measured at recruitment and 6 months.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>In total, 26.6% infants developed anemia till 6 months of age, and number of anemic infants were similar whether mothers received iron for 3 (<italic>n</italic> = 9) or 6 months (<italic>n</italic> = 11). Hemoglobin (12.89 + 0.46 vs. 12.44 + 0.48 g/dL; <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001) and serum ferritin (27.45 + 7.60 vs. 18.94 + 5.36 ng/mL; <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001) were significantly higher in infants at 6 months of age whose mothers received iron for 6 months in comparison to 3 months. Conclusion: totally, 26.6% exclusively breastfed infants developed anemia till 6 months of age when mothers took iron; number of anemic infants were not different if mothers received iron for 3 or 6 months. A significant increase was noted in serum ferritin with slightly higher hemoglobin of infants when mothers received iron for longer duration.</p></sec><sec><title>Clinical trial registration</title><p>[<ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://ctri.nic.in/Clinicaltrials/pubview.php" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">http://ctri.nic.in/Clinicaltrials/pubview.php</ext-link>], identifier [CTRI/2018/08/015516].</p></sec>