Iron deficiency is seen to the most neglected and the most prevalent nutrient deficiency all over the world, and more particularly among children and pregnant women in developing countries. Anemia is defined by low hematocrit or hemoglobin and is used commonly in assessing iron deficiency severity in populations lacking high malaria rates. The high iron requirement physiologically in pregnant women is difficult to attain with most diets. As a result, they receive routine iron supplementation. The studies conducted in the past have given evidence that iron supplementation without or with folic acid does reduce anemia incidence during pregnancy, but they lack quality of evidence data. This article will therefore address the iron supplementation effect without or with folic acid on pregnant patients with anemia and provide specific quality results in reference to the guidelines of Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group(CHERG)( Imdad, 2011).
A systematic review of all published literature according to CHERG guidelines was conducted from the Cochrane library and PubMed. There was comparison of iron and folic acid supplements or preventive prenatal oral iron effects versus placebo or no treatment among pregnant women. The interventions were daily iron supplementation without or with folic acid compared to control or placebo, and weekly iron supplementation without or with folic acid compared to daily supplementation( Imdad, 2011). CHERG were applied for the interest outcomes in iron without or with folate on pregnant anemic patient and recommendations made.
In the result, after selecting 31 studies for inclusion in the paper, the following were the outcomes. Daily iron supplementation at term resulted to anemia reduction by 73% and iron deficiency reduction by 67%compared to no placebo or no intervention. The outcome for daily iron supplementation had no significant impact on the severe anemia during term compared with no placebo and no intervention. Also, in the context of severe anemia during either second or third trimester, the daily iron supplementation compared to without supplementation didn't have any impact. Lastly, the daily iron-folic compared to no placebo or no intervention didn't have any impact on severe anemia patients during either the second or third trimester( Imdad, 2011).
In conclusion, iron supplementation had a significant reduction of iron deficiency anemia and anemia at term. Also, Iron combination with folic acid had beneficial effect on anemia during term and should be used in developing countries in pregnant women in anemia incidence reduction( Imdad, 2011). Iron is associated with mother and fetus' wellbeing. It reduces significantly incidence of anemia in pregnant women hence reducing maternal mortality and morbidity. Some of the foods which provide iron include tofu, dark chocolate, cocoa powder, dark leafy greens, bran, fortified cereals, whole grains, beans, pulses, beef, lamb, nuts, seafood, liver, pumpkin seeds, and squash. An individual serving these foods would obtain approximately 1-1.5mg of iron daily which is below half of the daily requirements. The specific function researched in this article which is known is that iron supplementation is used to prevent anemic incidences during pregnancy. The researcher raised their specific question because this study has been conducted in the past but it lacked interventions evidence quality. The question was what outcome specific quality by the effect of iron supplementation in anemic pregnant women at term, second and third trimester. Their hypothesis was that supplementation of iron has an important benefit in iron deficiency and anemia reduction during pregnancy(Semba, 2008).
References
Imdad, A., & Bhutta, Z. A. (2011). Effect of routine iron supplementation with or without folic acid on anemia during pregnancy. BMC Public Health, 11(Suppl 3), 1-10. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-11-S3-S22
Semba, R.D., & Bloem, M. (2008). Nutrition and Health in Developing countries. New York: NW, Springer Science & Business Media.
